Guns of Brixton
by a-bit-of-madness
Summary: A Gilmore wedding extravaganza... sort of? Jess and Rory have been together for five years, and they've never been happier. With their wedding day fast approaching, they've got a lot on their plates- especially with Emily Gilmore involved. Can they pull off the magical moment they've spent the last five years dreaming about? Conclusion to She's Lost Control series.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is going to be short compared to the last two stories in this series, it's more of an epilogue than anything. Everything in Italics is a flashback to the time between the ending of Nothing Like You and now. There's a three year gap. I hope you guys enjoy!**

 **Chapter One**

" _To Rory!" Matt raised his glass. "May she take my place and move Truncheon to bigger and better things!"_

" _To Rory!" The others echoed, all smiling as they clinked their glasses together._

" _Welcome to the family," Chris hugged her._

" _Happy to be here," Rory beamed._

" _So, how does it feel to be a full partner?" Cynthia asked._

" _Gonna be honest, it doesn't feel any different," Rory frowned. "Now Chris has to listen to me when I yell at him, but that's about it."_

" _I had to listen to you before," Chris pointed out. "For fear of physical and psychological harm."_

" _Good point," she nodded. "So, yeah, no difference."_

Page Break-

" _Rory!" Jess walked into the apartment loaded down with takeout bags. "Ror, are you home!"_

" _In here!" Her voice called from the living room._

 _The apartment was still full of boxes, as they had only moved in a few weeks before. It had been hard leaving the apartment above Truncheon, but they really had outgrown it- or at least their library had. The new apartment was only a couple blocks away from the store, within walking distance, but they had been too busy since moving to really unpack anything. This had been Rory's first day off, and she had dedicated it to organizing and shelving all their books._

" _We have a serious problem," she complained when Jess entered the room. "I've been at this for hours and I've only gotten through half of our non-fiction books. I haven't even opened a fiction box yet. At this rate, we won't be unpacked for months."_

" _Well there's no hurry," Jess shrugged._

" _Do you want to be living in boxes for the foreseeable future?" she challenged. "Because I don't. I almost died trying to get to the kitchen this morning."_

" _We'll make a better path," he offered. "Come here."_

" _What?" Rory finally turned to look at him. "What's that?"_

 _She pointed to the paper bags he was carrying._

" _Dinner," he held up the bigger bag. "And a surprise," he held up the smaller one._

" _A surprise from the liquor store?" Rory recognized the bag._

" _Sort of," Jess agreed. "Disentangle yourself from the box jungle and come here."_

" _Alright, alright," Rory rolled her eyes and picked her way over to the kitchen. "So, what have you got there?"_

 _Jess grinned and pulled out a bottle._

" _Champagne?" Rory raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you like champagne?"_

" _Since we have something champagne worthy to celebrate."_

" _Intrigue."_

" _I got a call today," Jess started to explain. "And I am here to tell you, that my new book is number 5 on the New York Times bestsellers list."_

" _Oh my God!" Rory squealed and threw her arms around him. "That's amazing! I'm so proud of you!"_

 _Jess grinned and spun her around the kitchen excitedly. "I'm a New York Times bestseller!"_

" _You're a New York Times bestseller," Rory repeated, laughing. "This definitely calls for champagne."_

Rory knew that planning a wedding was hard- especially when Emily Gilmore was your grandmother and refused to take a step back. She had expected there to be a lot of drinking during the process, just to keep from going insane. Every day that she spent with her grandmother seemed to push her farther and farther onto her mother's side in the whole "Emily Gilmore is trying to kill me" argument. However the few things that she had hoped to have fun with were the music and the cake. Emily had other plans.

"Rory, you have to try _all_ the cakes!" Her Grandmother scolded as they sat in her dining room surrounded by plates of cake.

"Mom, don't worry!" Lorelai interjected, taking a bite of her own piece. "She's just giving every piece an equal opportunity."

Emily sniffed disdainfully at this and got up to have a word with the caterer.

"You were supposed to tell her that Sookie was doing the food," Rory whispered to her mother.

"I did, but she insisted that we try someone else, just be sure that you wanted Sookie."

"But I _am_ sure I want Sookie," Rory insisted. "I've wanted Sookie to cater my wedding since I was 8!"

"Okay," Lorelai shrugged. "You go tell her that, then."

Rory looked over to where her Grandmother was having a heated discussion with the caterer, waving angrily at the table of cakes, and picked her fork back up.

"I guess you can never try too many cakes," she shrugged.

"Chicken," her mother laughed.

"Rory! Try another damn piece of cake!" Emily screeched.

Page Break-

When she got back to the apartment above Luke's that afternoon, loaded down with four boxes full of cake, all Rory wanted was to take a nap. Unfortunately, her fiancee had other ideas. She could hear the yelling from the stairs leading up to the apartment above the diner.

"YOU NEED TO CONTROL YOUR POET!" Jess was screaming. There was another muffled voice yelling at the same time, which Rory assumed was coming from the computer. She was surprised to find, however, that Matt and Chris were standing in her living room.

"RORY!" Matt saw her first, leaving the other two to argue and helping her with the boxes. "How's it going?"

"Don't ask," Rory huffed. "What are you guys doing here?"

"There's a couple books coming up on their deadlines, and Chris figured it would be easier to finish up here, instead of having to e-mail and Skype everything to you and this idiot."

"I can hear you," Jess said over his shoulder.

"I know that," Matt acknowledged.

"I can't talk about this anymore!" Jess threw his hands up, walked over to Rory and kissed her. "How was your day?"

"We're not supposed to ask," Matt told him.

"Okay... what's in the boxes?"

"Cake."

"Cake?!" Chris jumped up from the chair he was in and ran over to the table. "Hi, Rory!" he waved as he hurried past her to find a fork.

"Hi."

"Why do you have cake?" Jess asked. "I thought Sookie was doing the cake."

"She is," Rory agreed. "But knowing that something has already been decided has never stopped Emily Gilmore from trying to do it her own way."

"Aah," Jess nodded. "You want some coffee?"

"No, I just need a few hours without my grandmother around."

"Well she's not here now," Matt offered.

"Yes, but today is Friday," Jess sighed.

"What does Friday have to do with anything?"

"Every Friday night that we're in town we have dinner with her. We've been doing it since I was in high school," Rory explained. "Which means that I have three Emily free hours, and then it's back into the lion's den."

"Well then," Chris got up from the table. "We'll give you guys some quiet time."

"No, you guys don't have to go!" Rory assured them. "Where would you go anyways?"

"We're staying at that Inn your mom owns, Cynthia's there now. We'll go get settled in," Chris assured her. "Meet you for a drink later?"

"You'll have to meet us in Hartford, but sure." Jess agreed.

"What, you guys under prohibition here?" Matt asked. "You hide beer under the floorboards?"

"No, just music." Rory laughed at her own joke while the guys just stared at her.

"There just isn't anything open past 9. So you can go pick up some stuff, or you can meet us in Hartford," Jess explained.

"Ahh," Matt nodded. "Alright, we'll let you know. See you later!"

Once they were gone, Rory dropped onto the couch, grabbed a pillow and screamed into it.

"That good, huh?" Jess chuckled and sat down beside her.

"She's a nightmare! I mean, I've spent 25 years listening to my mom talk about how insane she is and I was there when she was hovering around Mom and Luke's vow renewal, but this is ridiculous! She won't back off! She was nowhere near this bad before!"

"Your mom has a habit of exploding when she gets fed up with things, so people tend to avoid pushing her too far," Jess offered. "Besides that, you guys are a lot closer than her and Lorelai. She probably feels like she's allowed to have more of a say in this."

"She does have a say! That doesn't mean she can take over the whole thing!"

"Then why don't you tell her that?"

"She scares me." Rory covered her face and leaned into his chest.

"I can't help you with that. Emily Gilmore would have scared Osama bin Laden."


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

" _So, I got a phone call today," Rory sat down on the couch beside Jess._

" _What kind of phone call?"_

" _I was talking to Shelly," she explained. "You remember her, right?"_

" _Of course," Jess nodded. "She calls me on a regular basis demanding to know when she can get her hands on my next book."_

" _Right," Rory nodded, wringing her hands nervously._

" _She's also been trying to steal you away from me for the last two years," Jess pointed out, raising an eyebrow in challenge._

 _Rory bit her lip and gave him a nervous smile._

" _Let's have it," Jess sighed and waved for her to continue._

" _She's finally taking the plunge and moving Bluestocking out here," she explained. "And she wants me to be her number two."_

" _Wow," Jess nodded appreciatively. "And how do you feel about that?"_

" _I don't know," Rory frowned. "But I'm not aggressively opposed to the idea."_

" _I would be worried if you were," Jess chuckled lightly. "You want to go, don't you?"_

" _Not go, per se, but the offer is definitely attractive," she nodded nervously. "It's not that I want to leave Truncheon!"_

" _Rory," Jess took her hands in his, trying to get her to stop fidgeting. "Do you want to help Shelly open a new store?"_

" _Yeah," she bit her lip and smiled. "I really do."_

" _Then I think you should call her," Jess smiled encouragingly._

" _But what about Truncheon?"_

" _What about it?" Jess shrugged. "We're established, we've got employees running around keeping everything running smoothly. I mean, I haven't even been there to work in the last month. If you want to go start something new and cool, I'm behind you 100%."_

" _Really?" Rory asked, obviously not completely convinced._

" _To be honest, I'm a little jealous," he nodded. "You know how much I love Bluestocking."_

" _I'm sure I could find a place for you," she joked. "You'd make a cute cashier."_

 _Jess snorted and hugged her._

" _I think you have a phone call to make."_

 _Rory beamed and jumped off the couch, running to make the call._

 _\- -_ Page Break - -

 _It was hard work getting the new store up and running, and Rory was forced to pass off most of her workload at Truncheon. She wasn't overly excited about this, but she knew she would be able to go back to it soon._

 _The day they held the Grand Opening, Rory was so excited she didn't know what to do with herself._

" _Would you stop that!?" Jess scolded. "You're shaking the whole table!"_

 _They were sitting at their kitchen table having breakfast and Rory couldn't seem to sit still._

" _Sorry," she pulled her legs up underneath her and sat still for a second, only to start drumming her fingers against her coffee cup._

" _Why are you so nervous?" Jess laughed. "Everything is going to be great!"_

" _I know, I know," Rory nodded. "It's just, this has been my entire life for the last year and it's all coming together today. What if we fail?"_

" _You're not going to fail," Jess shook his head._

" _But what if we do?" she insisted. "What if nobody comes and we go out of business in a month?"_

" _Then it will be very exciting month."_

" _No it won't!" Rory scoffed. "It'll be the most stressful month of my life!"_

" _It can't be worse than the last year," Jess assured her. "You need to take a deep breath and enjoy yourself today."_

" _But-"_

" _No buts," Jess shook his head. "You're going to have a good time today, and that's that."_

" _You're very bossy today," Rory frowned._

" _Only because you're being stubborn."_

" _I prefer delightfully difficult," she finally smiled._

" _You would," Jess rolled his eyes._

" _It's going to be good?" Rory asked._

" _It's going to be amazing," Jess promised. "Trust me, I know. I've already had this day, remember?"_

" _Were you this nervous when you opened Truncheon?"_

" _More nervous. I even threw up a couple times- so did Matt and Chris."_

" _Well it's only 8," Rory pointed out. "I still have time."_

" _You're going to be fine," Jess shook his head. "Now, you should probably go make yourself look presentable. The Gilmores are coming."_

\- - Page Break - -

 _Rory's entire family was coming to see her accomplishments. Luke and Lorelai had gotten there the night before with April, planning to try and keep Rory occupied so that she didn't worry about the grand opening. Their plan had backfired when Rory had kicked them out of the apartment and back to their hotel less than an hour after their arrival. Richard and Emily were due to arrive within the next hour, and Rory had to admit she was excited to see them. They didn't get out to Philly too often and Rory had been far too busy lately to get back to Hartford, so it had been awhile since she had seen her grandparents. She was excited to show them what she had accomplished._

 _She had just finished getting dressed when a knock came at the door._

" _Rory!" Jess called. "They're here!"_

" _Get the door, then!" Rory called back, putting the finishing touches on her outfit._

" _What do you think I'm doing?!"_

" _The entire building can hear the two of you when you shout like that," Emily Gilmore scolded him when he opened the door._

" _They're used to it," Jess shrugged. "Come on in."_

" _Jess, how are you?" Richard shook his hand warmly. "How's the new book coming on?"_

" _Pretty well," Jess nodded. "It should be on the way to my editor in the next week or so."_

" _Excellent," Richard smiled. "And you'll be sure to send me a copy."_

" _You'll be the first to get one," Jess promised. "Emily, how are you?"_

" _I'm quite well," the older woman smiled at him. "Where's Rory?"_

" _I'm here!" Rory ran out of the bedroom. "Hi!"_

 _She hurried over and hugged each of her grandparents in turn. "I'm so glad you're here!"_

" _We're happy to be here," her grandfather beamed._

" _Is that what you're wearing?" Her grandmother frowned, taking in her appearance._

" _Yeah," Rory nodded and looked down at her outfit, a pair of black skinny jeans with a Vapor Rub t-shirt and a suit jacket, her hair pulled up in a messy bun._

" _It hardly seems appropriate. You're the editor and partner."_

" _It's not that kind of place," Rory tried to explain. "We don't wear business suits or anything like that. It's casual."_

" _If you say so," Emily pursed her lips._

" _Would you like some coffee?" Jess offered, trying to diffuse the situation._

" _Coffee would be lovely," Richard agreed. "Let me give you a hand."_

 _They left the women to stare at each other for a few minutes, taking shelter in the kitchen until Emily stopped glaring at her granddaughter._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Why is it that no matter how many times I stand outside this house, the feeling of imminent death never gets any better?" Jess asked, staring at the large oak doors of the Gilmore house.

"I've been asking myself that question for thirty years," Lorelai offered.

"And?"

"I've still got nothing."

"Great," Jess nodded and pressed the doorbell.

"Hello?" A new maid stood in the doorway.

"You weren't here this afternoon," Lorelai observed. "What's your name?"

"Lisa."

"Hi Lisa, I'm Lorelai, this is Rory and that's the James Dean wannabe. We're here for our weekly shock therapy sessions."

Lisa stared at her, mouth open.

"Ignore her, she hasn't taken her medication in a while," Rory stepped in. "We're here for dinner."

"Oh, okay. Can I take your coats?"

"We like to keep them, just in case we need to make a quick getaway."

"Lorelai! Give Lisa your coat and come inside!" Emily snapped from the living room doorway.

"Bzzz," Lorelai muttered under her breath as she put her coat on top of Rory's.

"Where's Luke?" Emily demanded as she watched them file into the room.

"He had to work late. Caesar's on vacation this week."

"And there was nobody else to run that little shack of his?"

"No, Mom, unless you wanted Jess and Rory to miss dinner."

"Of course not! We have important things to discuss."

"Drinks?" Rory asked hopefully.

"You are becoming more and more like your mother every day," Emily scolded, but got to her feet and headed to the cart. "The usual drinks?"

There was a murmur of agreement as Emily began to prepare the martinis and poured Jess a glass of whiskey.

"So, Jess, did you try the cake?"

"I tried a couple of them," Jess took a sip of his drink.

"And?" Emily pushed.

"And, they were good?"

"Did you pick one?"

"The last time I checked, Sookie was doing the cake. And whatever she handed me tasted pretty great too, so I don't see a need to change that."

Rory was trying not to beam at the man sitting beside her, taking on her grandmother in a way that not even her mother had been willing to do.

"Well," Emily huffed and took a sip of her drink.

"I'm with Jess. You can't beat Sookie," Lorelai jumped in, trying to ignore the feelings of pride she was having for the miscreant her daughter was marrying.

"Well, I suppose if you all feel that way-"

"We do," Rory assured her. "Thanks for all the free cake, though. We'll have breakfast for the next week."

"Yes, well." Emily pursed her lips and went to freshen up her drink.

'Thank you,' Rory mouthed to Jess, resting her head on his shoulder.

 **\- - Page Break - -**

"Have you thought about music at all?" Emily asked as they ate dinner.

"What about it?" Jess asked, picking all the radishes out of his salad.

"Have you decided what kind of music you're going to play? And what you're going to dance to?"

"Well, we were going to let Lane do the music." Rory said. "She's an amazing DJ."

"Lane?" Emily asked. "Your Asian friend, with the children?"

"Do you know another Lane, Mom?" Lorelai asked.

"No, Lorelai. I just wasn't aware that she had any sort of official musical experience."

"She's been in a band that writes all it's own music for years, and she's done the music for every Stars Hollow bash in the last five years. She's fantastic," Rory assured her.

"I'm sure," Emily pursed her lips. "What kind of music do you plan on asking her to play?"

"We're not sure yet. Probably a little bit of everything," Jess shrugged. "We have pretty varied tastes."

"I thought we could maybe stick some Chuck Barry in, though," Rory offered.

At this, Emily looked to the empty chair across from her where her husband had once sat and allowed herself a sad smile.

"He would have liked that," Lorelai smiled.

"Yes, he would have." Emily agreed.

There was a sad silence around the table as they all thought about how Richard would have felt about his granddaughter's impending wedding.

 **\- - Page Break - -**

" _Ready?" Shelly asked nervously._

" _As I'll ever be," Rory agreed._

 _The girls linked arms and walked over the front doors, turning the lock and throwing them open._

" _Come on in," they smiled at the crowd that was gathered in the parking lot, all of whom applauded and cheered._

 _They spent the afternoon mingling with their families, friends and authors, basking in the excitement and feelings of accomplishment they were surrounded by. The open bar and appetizers made the day a total success and Rory and Shelly had never been happier._

" _I told you it would be great," Jess snaked his arm around Rory's waist and handed her a drink. "How do you feel?"_

" _Like I'm on cloud nine," she laughed and kissed him. "Thank you."_

" _For what?"_

" _For telling me I could do it. I would never have told Shelly I'd come with her if you hadn't pushed me. This is all because of you."_

" _No," Jess shook his head. "This is all you. I might have given you a helping hand, but this is all you. I'm so proud of you."_

" _Hey," Shelly joined them. "Not to break up this nauseating moment, but people are hoping you could say a few words."_

" _Why me?" Rory frowned. "I'm just the help."_

 _Shelly snorted and smacked her friend's arm. "Nice try. Get up there, Miss Editor."_

 _Rory rolled her eyes and followed Shelly over to the 'soap box' they had set up in the middle of the shop floor and stepped up._

" _Hi, everyone!" She called. "I don't want to interrupt the fun, but Shelly does, so here I am."_

 _The crowd laughed and turned to give her their full attention._

" _Um, for those of you who don't know, I'm Rory Gilmore. I'm the editor of the Bluestocking Zine, and I've spent the last year helping Shelly get this place up and running. And by helping, I mean I've sold a couple organs and given her my entire life."_

 _More laughs._

" _Seriously though, this place has become my baby and I'm just so happy that I can share it with all of you, my family and friends, and all the local authors that are going to get to share their work here. This is just a dream come true, but there are a few people I couldn't have done it without. My boyfriend, Jess, you've put up with my insanity for years and I know that this last year has been even worse, but I couldn't have done it without you. You keep my head from exploding when I'm thinking too hard, and you keep me from going completely insane. I love you so much!"_

" _I love you too," Jess smiled, blushing a little at all the attention she had suddenly put on him._

" _And then there's my mom and stepfather, who have always told me I could do anything. I would never have believed we could do this without you guys, so thank you."_

 _Lorelai smiled up at her daughter tearily while Luke gave her a solemn nod._

" _And finally, my grandparents- Richard and Emily Gilmore. Without them, I would never have been qualified to do any of this. Thank you, Grandma, Grandpa."_

 _She looked over to the elder Gilmores, both of whom were smiling proudly at her- and then they weren't. Richard's smile suddenly fell and he gripped his arm, a pained expression crossing his face._

" _Grandpa?" Rory jumped off the soap box and hurried to his side, just as he collapsed._

" _Grandpa!" Rory screamed and knelt beside him, Jess and Lorelai joining her while Emily stood stalk still and Luke called for an ambulance._

" _No," Rory shook her head, tears in her eyes. "No, no, no, no. Not again. Please!"_

 **\- - Page Break - -**

"Have you thought about your first dance?" Emily finally asked.

"Guns of Brixton," Jess spoke up before Rory could even give it any thought.

"What?" Rory turned to look at him.

"What on earth is 'Guns of Brixton'?" Emily asked.

"Why 'Guns of Brixton'?" Lorelai asked. "I mean, it's a good song and all, but it's not exactly normal for a first dance."

"What is it?" Emily asked again. "I've never heard of that."

Rory hadn't said a word, instead she was just staring at Jess, obviously thinking about why he wanted to dance to 'Guns of Brixton' at their wedding. And then it dawned on her, and a smile started to creep across her face.

"What?" Lorelai asked. "What am I missing?"

"What is 'Guns of Brixton'?!" Emily demanded, getting more and more exasperated. "It sounds completely inappropriate!"

"Why would you want to dance to that?" Rory asked, still smiling.

"Do you not want to?" Jess asked, sounding a little nervous.

"No, it's just, why _that_ song? That wasn't exactly a night to be remembered."

"You don't think so?" Jess asked, that stupid smirk on his face.

"What night?" Lorelai asked.

"Would somebody please tell me what the hell you're talking about?!" Emily demanded, obviously getting annoyed. "What is this damn song!?"

"It's a song by The Clash," Lorelai finally explained. "The Clash is a band from the 70's."

"What kind of band?"

"They were a punk band." Jess said, not looking away from Rory, still trying to figure out what she was thinking.

"The only band that ever mattered," Rory added.

"Well, that is entirely inappropriate for a wedding!" Emily gasped.

Rory shook her head. "No, it's perfect."

Jess let out a quick sigh of relief and smiled back at her.

"But really, why that song?" Rory pushed again.

"Because that was the night I knew." He looked embarrassed, not so much to admit it, but to do it in front of her mother and grandmother.

Rory couldn't stop smiling and for a minute he thought she was going to cry, but then she leaned over and kissed him.

"Me too," she whispered.

"Will somebody please explain what this song is and why you are under the deranged opinion that it would be appropriate for your wedding?" Emily demanded, obviously not impressed by her granddaughter's public display of affection.

"It's just a really good song," Rory told her grandmother, trying not to laugh.

Lorelai raised an eyebrow at her, but Rory just shook her head to indicate she would explain later.

The rest of dinner was tense, to say the least. Rory refused to give Emily a good reason for choosing that song and wouldn't stop smiling at Jess. When they finally left, their good-nights were cold and Emily said nothing about getting together the next day to plan.

"Okay, you have to tell me now, because I'm kind of taking Mom's side on this one!" Lorelai exploded as soon as the door closed.

"I'll tell you in the car," Rory promised. "Meet you at home?" She asked Jess.

"Sure." He gave her a quick kiss and jumped in the car before Rory started to explain.

"Alright, he's gone. Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!" Lorelai jumped up and down in anticipation.

"Get in the car." Rory said, pushing her towards the driver's side. "Grandma's going to see us standing here and make us come back inside."

"Good call!" Lorelai gasped, following her daughter's suggestion.

Once they had pulled out of the driveway and made it to the highway, Rory finally told her the story. "Do you remember when I started tutoring Jess?" She asked.

"You mean the night that he broke your wrist? Yes, yes I do."

"Okay, well before the accident and the broken wrist, we were having a good time... well, Jess was. I was getting annoyed because he wasn't studying. He was doing magic tricks and just being generally annoying. Being his usual self, you know?"

"Oh, I know." Lorelai assured her.

"When I finally thought that he had actually started studying, he handed me a notepad of what was supposed to be Shakespeare. It was actually the words to a Clash song and he asked me which one it was. Ten seconds. It occurred to me while I was arguing that I wasn't the one being tested that it was Guns of Brixton."

"Okay, I'm not getting the romantic connotation."

"He spent the first two hours of studying driving me insane, not paying attention, but at the same time I wasn't annoyed because we were having fun. We were arguing about music and he was doing stupid magic tricks that I wanted to kill him for. And then we got in the car to go get ice cream, and when we were in the car, just driving around, I realized that I might actually really like him- more than I liked Dean. I think that was the first time I really thought I was in love with someone, before I really knew what that was."

"Magic tricks and music? That's what got you?" Lorelai asked.

"Kind of. He pushed me to the edge, but in a good way, and he challenged me in a way that nobody ever had before. He was a bad boy, but he was also the most well-read person I had ever met, and maybe even one of the smartest. So I challenged him- asked him why he was getting such crappy grades when we both knew he was smarter than half the kids in his class."

"And what did James Dean say?"

"He brushed me off. Didn't give me any real answers and asked me to leave it alone. But I pushed and told him that he could be whatever he wanted, go to college, write a book, whatever. He didn't say much, then he turned the tables and grilled me about the future. When I told him I wanted to be a foreign correspondent, at first I thought he was going to laugh at me, but then he didn't. He promised that I would do it. He even offered to help me practice by driving straight at me and screaming in a foreign language."

"Because that would have been so helpful!" Lorelai quipped.

"That wasn't the point. He was the first person to believe I could do it."

"What are you talking about?" Her mother demanded. "I always believed in you!"

"Of course you did, you're my mom. If I had told you I wanted to be an astronaut you would have told me I could and tried to get me into NASA. Jess was the first person to look at me and see a total nerd who most people wouldn't expect to last two days overseas, and then say that he believed I could do it. It was just..." She trailed off, not exactly sure how to explain it to her mother. "I don't know, it was just... it was important."

"Hey, I get it!" Lorelai agreed. "It was your moment. Everybody has one. I think it's sweet."

"So you'll back me up with Grandma?"

"I'll try, but this might be a battle that you have to fight on your own... or get Jess to fight. He did pretty well with the cake thing."

"See, I got the impression that she was just going to bring it up again when he wasn't there."

"Oh, that's definitely what's going to happen," Lorelai agreed. "But now you can say that Jess wants Sookie to do the cooking and now we outnumber her."

"Oddly enough, I don't think that's going to help."

"You're probably right," Lorelai shrugged.

There was a moment of quiet and then Lorelai jumped three lanes to the off ramp, making multiple people honk at her in annoyance.

"Where are you going?"

"I want tacos."

"We just had dinner!" Rory cried.

"That was not dinner! That was something that might have been a bird at some point in a teeny-tiny portion and then the maid took it away before I could finish because you were arguing with Grandma about music."

"Yeah, okay," Rory conceded as they pulled up to the drive-thru.

"How many do you want?" Lorelai asked.

"Four."

"Three seconds ago you were complaining that we had just eaten dinner!"

"Yes, but then I thought about your argument and realized that you're right and now I'm hungry."

"You really are my daughter," Lorelai beamed, then turned to face the speaker and ordered ten tacos, an order of taquitos and a large order of chili fries.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"What's that?" Luke demanded when they carried the bags into the diner twenty minutes later and sat down.

"Tacos and chili fries."

"Okay, I know we've had this conversation before, but you don't have to bring your own food here, we provide it."

"You don't have tacos," Lorelai pointed out.

"We have chili fries."

"Yeah, but your chili fries are really good," Rory explained.

"What?"

"We had a really crappy dinner and needed really crappy food," Lorelai expanded.

"How does that even work in your head?" Luke asked, staring at his wife and step-daughter completely dumb-founded.

"Is Jess home yet?" Rory asked, getting up from the table and grabbing a taco from the bag.

"Yeah, he's upstairs." Luke said, still looking disgusted by the picture before him.

"Great, thanks!" She grabbed a bag of food and disappeared behind the curtain and up the stairs.

"RORY!" Chris yelled as she walked in. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here. What are _you_ doing?"

"We're drinking!" Chris raised his glass to her, then tossed back the rest of it.

"I can see that," Rory laughed. "Exactly how long have you been drinking?"

"A _very_ long time. This is a _very_ boring town!" Matt complained.

"They're on their second bottle," Cynthia offered, getting up and giving Rory a hug. "Hi."

"What's that?" Jess asked, joining them, now dressed in jeans and a t-shirt instead of his dress pants and shirt.

"Tacos."

"We just had dinner."

"That was not dinner," Rory repeated her mother's earlier argument. "It was some sort of baby bird in a very tiny portion and I was too busy arguing to eat most of it."

"Did you bring me any?" Jess asked, obviously coming around to her argument.

"No, you know how to feed yourself."

"So just because I've picked up basic life skills I don't get tacos?" Jess demanded.

"Pretty much," Rory nodded and dropped onto the couch, unwrapping her food and taking a bite.

Matt and Chris sat across from them, heads turning back and forth as they spoke, as if they were watching a tennis match.

"This is the most interesting thing we've seen all day," Matt said. "And we watch it all the time at home."

"This town sucks," Chris agreed.

"Hey!" Rory reached over and stole his drink, finishing it off herself. "Don't say mean things about my town! My town is awesome!"

"You've just been brainwashed into believing that," Matt shook his head.

"No, I've just been drinking the Kool-Aid for the last 25 years," she reasoned. "And besides, you haven't seen this place in action yet. It can get downright entertaining!"

"I highly doubt that," Chris said skeptically.

"Jess," Rory turned to her fiancee. "Tell them."

"It has it's moments," he admitted. "Usually the kind you would only expect to see in the Psych ward, but moments nonetheless."

"If you say so," Chris shrugged.

"Jess once convinced the mayor that someone had been murdered outside the grocery store," Rory offered. "That was pretty entertaining."

"How exactly do you convince someone there's been a murder?" Matt asked, looking intrigued.

"You draw a chalk outline of a body, put up some police tape and let the crazy people who live here draw their own conclusions," Jess smirked.

"Interesting."

"It was definitely one of the highlights of my time here," Jess agreed.

"As fun as that sounds, I think I'll stick to Philly," Cynthia frowned. "Small towns just don't do it for me."

"Well then I guess it's a good thing you're only here for a week," Rory shrugged. "I'm going to go get changed."

Cynthia followed her out of the room, pulling the curtain that separated their bedroom closed behind her. "So, how's it going? I feel like I haven't seen you in forever!"

"We've only been gone for a few weeks," Rory scoffed.

"That's a long time. How's the planning going?"

"It was going fine when it was just us doing it," Rory huffed and kicked her dress towards the closet in annoyance. "Now that Emily Gilmore has inserted herself into the process, it's gotten progressively more difficult."

"How bad could it be?" Cynthia frowned. "The wedding is next Friday, everything is already planned."

"You try telling my grandmother that. The woman can't be reasoned with."

"Well, what can I do to help?"

"Do you know a good hit man?" Rory joked.

"No, but I'm sure Matt and I could work something out if push came to shove," she offered.

"It might," Rory sighed. "Other than that, you're right, everything really is pretty much done. Lane and I went and picked out her dress last week, Sookie and Luke are taking care of everything food related, Lane and Zach have the music covered. The only thing left is the dress."

"What dress?" Cynthia frowned.

"My dress."

"You haven't got a dress yet!" Cynthia cried. "Your wedding is in a week!"

"I'll get one," Rory shrugged. "I've just been really busy since we picked a date."

"Well then maybe you shouldn't have decided to get married a month after getting engaged," Cynthia crossed her arms.

"We didn't want to wait anymore," Rory shrugged. "Sue me, I'm in love."

"There is something seriously wrong with the two of you," Cynthia shook her head. "Between your twisted refusal to actually get engaged even though we all knew you were getting married, to your idiot fiancee's screwy proposal-"

"What screwy proposal?" Rory interrupted her.

"Proposals are supposed to be big and romantic!" Cynthia cried. "The kind of things you read about in a romance novel, or see in a stupid movie."

"Jess's proposal _was_ romantic," Rory argued.

\- - **Page Break - -**

 _It had been a normal Thursday night, Rory had gotten home late after finalizing the Zine that was supposed to be published the next week and Jess had just finished putting the finishing touches on his latest manuscript. They were sitting on the couch, Chinese takeaway spread out in front of them, arguing about why Rory didn't want to watch Almost Famous again when he asked._

" _I just don't get it!" Rory cried from her spot on the floor. "I mean, sure, it was good the first time, but what kind of twisted enjoyment are you getting out of watching Kate Hudson commit suicide for the eightieth time?"_

 _Jess didn't answer, instead he just stared down at her from his spot on the couch, an amused look on his face._

" _What?"_

" _Marry me," Jess replied._

" _What?" Rory dropped the egg roll she had been about to eat, staring at him like he had just sprouted two extra heads._

" _Marry me," he repeated._

" _Jess, what are you-" Rory started, shaking her head in disbelief. Before she could even wrap her head around his question, he had fished something out of his pocket and was sitting on the floor beside her._

" _Rory Gilmore, will you marry me?" He asked, holding up the most beautiful ring Rory had ever seen._

" _How long have you been carrying that around?" She asked, pointing to the simple piece of jewellery, still in shock._

" _Do you remember when you gave me that scrapbook for Christmas a few years ago? The one with all your favourite memories of us?"_

" _Yeah," Rory frowned._

" _I got it a week after that," he admitted. "I've just been waiting for the right time to give it to you."_

" _And the right time was in the middle of our eight thousandth fight about Almost Famous?" A smile started to pull at the corners of her mouth._

" _It looks that way," Jess shrugged. "So, what do you say?"_

 _The smile turned into a full-on grin._

" _Yes!" Rory laughed and threw her arms around his neck. "God! Of course, yes!"_

 **\- - Page Break - -**

Rory smiled happily at the memory, pulling an old Distillers shirt over her head.

"Yeah, see, most people don't think that's romantic," Cynthia explained. "Most people want grand gestures and elaborate schemes, not argument diffusion."

"Well then it's a good thing I'm not most people," Rory shrugged and headed back to the living room. "I'll get a dress, don't worry."

"Don't worry," Cynthia rolled her eyes. "God, you're infuriating, you know that?"

"She prefers the term 'delightfully difficult'," Jess offered. "But why?"

"The woman hasn't bought a wedding dress!"

"Do you really need one?" Jess shrugged, letting Rory sit in his lap and throw her legs over the arm rest. "I mean, you could just wear this."

"A ratty Distillers t-shirt and leggings?" Rory raised an eyebrow.

"Think how mad your grandmother would be."

"Oh!" Rory's face lit up, much to Cynthia's dismay.

"No!" She cried. "No Distillers shirts! You are getting a wedding dress if I have drug you and throw you in my trunk to get one!"

"Touchy," Rory rolled her eyes. "What's wrong with you? When did you become the girl in this relationship?"

"I don't know," Cynthia snapped. "But I would be more than happy to give you the job back if you had any interest in it. Unfortunately, you don't think you need a wedding dress, so we're stuck here."

" _Jess_ doesn't think I need a wedding dress," Rory corrected. "I can see how it might be useful."

Cynthia's face was turning red with anger and Rory almost thought she could see smoke coming from her ears.

"That's it," she cried. "I can't deal with you anymore. I need a drink."

The entire room erupted in peals of laughter as Matt passed his girlfriend a beer.

"We can go shopping tomorrow," Rory finally conceded. "Okay?"

"Can we come?" Matt asked excitedly.

"Sure," Rory shrugged.

"Yay!" He clapped his hands excitedly. "Let's go shopping!"

"You're such a girl," Chris snorted.

"Well one of us needs to be!" Matt reasoned.

While the others argued about Matt's feminine side, Rory turned to Jess.

"Want to come dress shopping with us?"

"Isn't it bad luck?" He frowned. "Seeing the bride in her dress before the wedding."

"Oh, are we doing that?" Rory's forehead wrinkled.

"We don't have to," he shrugged. "I'm just pointing it out."

"Good, we're not doing that. You have to come suffer."

"Wow, you make it sound so appealing," Jess rolled his eyes. "What if I don't want to come?"

"Sucks to be you."

"Ladies and gentlemen, the soon to be newlyweds," Cynthia waved at them dramatically.

"Quit eavesdropping!" Rory glared at the other woman.

Cynthia stuck her tongue out at her in response.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

When the others went back to the inn for the night, Rory and Jess finally had a chance to talk about what had happened at dinner.

"So you really like my idea of playing Guns of Brixton?" Jess asked.

"I love it," Rory grinned. "I think it's absolutely perfect."

They finished cleaning up and made their way to bed, Rory insisting that they needed plenty of sleep if she was going to make it through the next day's dress shopping expedition.

Only a few hours after they had fallen asleep, however, Rory was jolted awake by a nightmare. They had started up again after her grandfather's death, just as they had when he had suffered a heart attack when she was in college.

It had been six months since Richard Gilmore had died, and while she wasn't having the dreams every night, they still came- especially when she had been thinking about him.

 **\- - Page Break - -**

 _He didn't make it through surgery._

" _I'm so sorry," The doctor had told them morosely. "We did everything we could."_

 _Rory had never felt as helpless as she did in that moment, watching her family fall apart in front of her, Lorelai hugging her mother while Luke tried to comfort the both of them._

 _She felt like she was in a trance, like she was watching from afar as her mother lead her grandmother out of the hospital, and then there was darkness._

 _The next thing she knew Jess was leading her into their own apartment, the rest of her family nowhere in sight._

" _Where's my Mom?" She asked, the sound of her own voice startling her._

" _She took Emily to the hotel, remember?" Jess frowned at her._

" _Oh," Rory nodded slowly. "Okay."_

" _Come on," Jess put an arm around her and lead her to their room. "Let's get you changed."_

 _Jess helped her out of her clothes and into one of his old t-shirts._

" _Are you hungry?" He asked. "You haven't eaten since this afternoon."_

" _No thanks," she shook her head._

" _Do you want to sleep? It's almost three in the morning."_

" _No," she shook her head again. "I just..."_

" _What?" Jess squeezed her hand._

" _I don't know," Rory sighed. "I don't know."_

 _She started to cry and Jess pulled her into his arms. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."_

 _After a few minutes, Jess coaxed her into bed, joining her after changing out of his own clothes. He had been ready when the nightmares came, remembering how bad they had been before. When Rory woke up screaming and bolted to the bathroom to throw up, Jess was right behind her._

" _It's okay," he held her hair and rubbed her back. "It's okay, I've got you."_

 _As she emptied her stomach, Rory's body shook with sobs._

" _I've got you," Jess kept assuring her. "You're okay."_

 _When she fell back against him, sure that there was nothing left in her stomach, she was shaking her head._

" _What?" Jess asked._

" _It's not okay," she sobbed. "I'm not okay. Nothing is okay. He died!"_

" _I know," Jess sighed. "I'm sorry."_

" _He died," Rory repeated, the words tasting bitter in her mouth._

" _Yeah, he did," Jess nodded. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."_

 _The funeral was held the next week, back in Hartford. It was a nice ceremony, or so Rory had been told. The entire day had been like a bad dream, and she couldn't remember most of it._

 _The graveyard had been the hardest part. Rory had never seen her grandmother look so broken- or her mother, for that matter. She had spent the entire time with her head resting on her Lorelai's shoulder, crying. When they had gotten back to the house, Rory had planned to follow her grandmother around, try to keep an eye on her, but the first time someone turned to address her, she had turned tail and run back to Jess._

" _Everything okay?" Jess asked as she hurried towards him._

" _No," she burst into tears for what had to be the thousandth time that day and fell against him._

" _Hey, hey!" Jess quickly pulled her into a quiet corner and held her tightly. "You're okay. What happened?"_

" _There's just people everywhere," she sobbed. "And they're all talking about him and I can't do it anymore."_

" _Okay," Jess nodded and rubbed her back soothingly. "Okay, you don't have to."_

" _Of course I do!" Rory cried. "I have to! This is my grandfather's funeral, what am I supposed to do, leave?!"_

" _Okay, okay," Jess tried to quiet her, glaring at anyone who dared to stare at them._

" _Hon?" Lorelai approached the couple looking concerned. "What's going on?"_

" _I don't want to do this anymore!" Rory cried._

" _Oh, okay," Lorelai nodded and pulled her daughter away from Jess and into her own arms. "Okay, why don't we go upstairs?"_

 _She motioned for Jess to follow them and led Rory towards the staircase. As they passed Luke, Lorelai asked him to keep an eye on her mother, then led Rory up to her old room._

" _It's okay," she sat on the bed and pulled Rory into her lap like she was five years old again. "It's okay, Honey."_

" _No it's not." Rory shook her head. "None of this is okay!"_

" _I know," Lorelai nodded. "But it will be. I know it doesn't seem like it right now, but it's going to be okay."_

" _Grandpa's dead!"_

" _I know," Lorelai's voice caught. "I know."_

 **\- - Page Break - -**

Rory woke up crying, the familiar feeling of nausea in her throat jolting her out of bed and into the bathroom to empty her stomach. Jess woke up a moment later and quickly followed her as soon as he heard the all too familiar sound of retching.

"Ror," he tried the door handle, only to find it locked. "Ror, let me in."

"I'm okay," she called through the door.

"I know you're crying," Jess frowned. "Open the door."

"I'll be out in a minute."

Jess rolled his eyes and leaned against the wall to wait for her. When she emerged a minute later, she was still crying and Jess was quick to pull her into his arms.

"Nightmare?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

"The usual?"

"Yeah."

Jess nodded and lead her to the couch.

"Do you think it was because we talked about him at dinner?"

"Probably," Rory shrugged. "But it's been hard with the wedding coming up. I just keep thinking about how happy he would have been."

Jess nodded along, encouraging her to go on.

"I just miss him," she shrugged.

"I know," he squeezed her hand.

"Whatever," Rory shook her head and started to get up.

"Not whatever," Jess stopped her. "You miss him, he was your grandpa, that's important."

"Jess, I just want to go back to sleep," she sighed. "Please."

"Okay," he shrugged and let her get up.

"Are you coming?"

"I'll be there in a minute," he nodded.

Rory shrugged and disappeared behind the curtain into their bedroom while Jess watched her. She hadn't had a dream in more than a month, but he wasn't exactly surprised. Spending time with her grandmother always brought them on, especially when Richard was brought up. What worried him was the vomiting. The dreams hadn't been violent enough to make her sick since the first month after Richard had died, and in that time she had lost almost fifteen pounds- that wasn't something he wanted to go through again.

 **\- - Page Break - -**

 _She didn't eat for the first week, slept for only a few minutes at a time and barely spoke. Jess had tried everything, offered her all her favourite foods, offered to learn to make something new, to drive her to Stars Hollow to get food from Luke's, to drive to Stars Hollow and bring Luke's back, to go get her anything she wanted from Sookie, but nothing was working._

 _She hadn't been out of bed in days- he was sure it was because she didn't have the strength to get up. The only thing that was keeping her alive was the chocolate PediaSure he had been forcing her to drink, though he wasn't sure how much those were helping since she usually vomited them up a few hours later._

 _After five days of this, Jess had called Luke in a panic. He knew that Lorelai was having a hard time with everything too, but Rory obviously needed more help than he could give her- at this rate he was going to have to check her into the hospital by the end of the week. They showed up within hours of getting the call, desperate to help their daughter._

" _Honey, you have to eat something," Lorelai sat on the edge of her daughter's bed, stroking her hair and pleading with her. "Luke brought soup and mashed potatoes, and he'll make you anything you want."_

 _Rory shook her head, turning over and pulling the covers over her head to try and get away._

" _Rory, please," Lorelai begged, tears in her eyes._

 _When no answer came, she left the room to keep her daughter from having to see her cry, but Rory heard her sobbing in the next room. She wanted to make her mother stop crying, desperately, but the thought of eating anything made her feel sick._

 _Everyone tried to get her to eat, but eventually Jess resorted back to forcing down a supplement drink, coaxing and pleading with Rory to open her mouth and drink, praying that she didn't roll over and puke it up before her body could absorb any kind of nutrients._

 _She was wasting away in front of their eyes and Jess and Lorelai had never felt so helpless. In the end, it was Luke that got her to eat._

 _He and Lorelai had been in Philly for three days and Rory had been getting sicker and sicker. He was so worried about her that he finally snapped, demanding that she eat some soup or else he was going to take her to the hospital right then and there. There had been a lot of yelling in that moment- Luke yelling at Rory, Jess and Lorelai yelling at Luke and finally Rory screaming for them all to stop._

" _I'll eat the soup," she agreed quietly. "I'll eat the soup."_

 _Slowly but surely, she had worked her way back to health. It had taken almost a month to get her out of bed and back into the world, but Jess hadn't cared. All that mattered was that she was going to be okay._

 _Eating and getting out of bed had only been half of the battle, however, as her nightmares had returned in full force, along with her fears of losing everyone she loved. This time around, she had agreed to go see a therapist._

 _It had been three in the morning, she had just finished throwing up and both she and Jess were sitting on the bathroom floor crying._

" _Rory, please," he stifled a sob. "Please, you need help."_

 _Seeing him sitting beside her, just as broken as she was, Rory had agreed- if only to make Jess worry less, she worried enough for everyone._

 _It had worked, though. With the help of her therapist she had kicked the nightmares as best she could, and had gotten a handle on her anxiety. It wasn't a cure, but it was manageable and that was all she could ask for._

 **\- - Page Break - -**

As Jess watched his fiancee walk back to their bedroom, he thought about that night on the bathroom floor and sighed. They had come so far from that night five months ago and he worried that the stress of the wedding was going to send her back into that downward spiral, thoughts of her grandfather's absence consuming her. He made a note to talk to her about it in the morning, not to let her curl into herself again, then followed her to bed. As soon as he laid down, Rory turned into his side and rested her head on his chest- her signature coping mechanism.

"You sure you're okay?" Jess whispered.

"I'm sure," she promised. "Let's just go to sleep."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

The next morning, it was like nothing had happened. Rory woke up at the same time she usually did, made coffee and toasted a couple Pop-tarts, then sat down at her computer to sort through e-mails and filled her journal with her day's 'To Do List'.

"Morning," Jess leaned over and kissed her on his way to the coffee pot. "You sleep okay?"

"Yeah," Rory smiled over at him. "I got back to sleep no problem."

"Do you want to call Dr. Prince?" He asked, referring to her therapist.

"No," she shook her head. "It wasn't that bad."

"You were vomiting again," Jess frowned.

"I think it was something I ate. The dream really wasn't that bad."

Seeing that Jess wasn't totally convinced, Rory got up and joined him in the kitchen, wrapping her arms around his neck and staring into his eyes. "I promise, it's okay. I can handle it."

"You'll call her if you have another one."

Rory knew by his tone that it wasn't a request. She had gotten used to these moments, she knew it was just because Jess was worried about her, not that he was trying to control her, so she smiled and nodded.

"I promise."

"Okay," Jess sighed.

"Do you want some breakfast?"

"That's not breakfast," he frowned at her Pop-tarts.

"Of course it is," Rory scoffed. "It's the breakfast of champions!"

Jess snorted and shook his head. "Whatever."

Once they were dressed, Rory and Jess made their way over to the Dragonfly to meet up with their friends and go shopping. Rory had called her mother a few minutes before and she had been more than happy to join the group. Lane had wanted to come as well, but couldn't get a sitter for the boys on such short notice, so she'd made Rory promise to send her pictures of everything she tried on.

When they got to the inn, Cynthia and Matt were downstairs having breakfast- incredibly hungover.

"How are you not in as much pain as I am?" Matt demanded when he saw how chipper Rory was.

"I stopped drinking an entire bottle before you," she snorted.

"Thanks for stopping me," he groaned and put his head down on the table.

"He needs a taco," Lorelai observed, joining their table. "Hangover food of the Gods. I'm sure I could get Sookie to whip a couple up for you."

"I'm good," Matt looked slightly green.

"Your loss," Rory shrugged. "So, are we shopping or what?"

"You go ahead," Matt groaned. "I'm gonna stay here and feel nauseous."

"What about Chris?" Rory turned to Cynthia.

"He's not even awake yet," the other girl snorted.

"I guess it's just the four of us, then," Lorelai shrugged. "Unless Kerouac would rather stay here."

"Yeah, come on Rory, ditch the dork!" Cynthia encouraged. "We'll make it a girl's day!"

"But-" Rory started to protest, but Jess cut her off.

"How about I go take Steve and Kwan for a few hours and let Lane take my place?"

"That sounds like a fabulous idea!" Lorelai beamed. "Rory?"

Rory nodded enthusiastically. "I'll go call and let her know."

 **\- - PAGE BREAK - -**

Forty minutes later they were wandering through the mall with coffee and pretzels, listening to Cynthia berate Rory for her refusal to go to a proper wedding dress store.

"I don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on a dress I'm only going to wear once," Rory argued. "It's pointless and idiotic."

"But it's your wedding!"

"Exactly," Rory smirked. "It's _my_ wedding. Therefore, I will but whatever damn dress I please. You should just be happy that I'm buying a dress."

"I hate you!" Cynthia snarled.

"You love me," Rory corrected. "You just want to live vicariously through me because your boyfriend is a commitment-phobe and won't pop the question."

"Exactly!" she agreed. "Is that too much to ask?!"

"Hey, look!" Lane interrupted the argument and pointed to a store. "Sale."

"Excellent!" Rory beamed and skipped towards the '70% Off' signs, leaving the others no choice but to follow.

"You know what's kind of sucky?" Rory asked her mother as they flicked through the racks.

"That Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston split up?"

"No, that April doesn't get here until Friday," she corrected. "It would have been nice to include her in this."

"Well, this was all kind of last minute," Lorelai pointed out. "As it is, she has to fly back Sunday night."

"I know," Rory frowned. "I feel bad about that."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with wanting to get married quick," Lorelai shrugged. "You're talking to the woman who eloped."

"I'm well aware," Rory laughed. "You know who's going to be mad that we didn't invite her?"

"Emily Post," Lorelai nodded.

"She's going to kill us."

"Wait until she finds out you bought your dress from the mall," Lorelai smirked. "How about this?"

She held up a short, Marilyn Monroe style dress for Rory to appraise.

"No," Rory wrinkled her nose.

"It's a classic!" Lorelai argued.

"Yes it is," Rory agreed. "But I don't like it."

"Fine, be that way," her mother rolled her eyes. "How about this?"

She held up what had to be the ugliest dress Rory had ever seen, it looked like it was made to cover every inch of a person's skin in the most terrifying way possible.

"If you're going to be petulant you can go home." Rory scolded.

"You're no fun!"

"I'm tons of fun!" Rory scoffed. "I just don't have time for stupid suggestions. I'm getting married in six days."

"It's not my fault you're a procrastinator," Lorelai shrugged and skipped off to another rack, leaving her daughter to glare after her.

It took them all morning, but Rory finally found a dress that she liked for a price she could live with. It was a knee length lace dress with an open back and a deep v-neck.

"It looks perfect," Lorelai gushed when she came out of the changing room.

"Really?" Rory spun around in the mirror.

"It's amazing, Rory!" Lane agreed.

"It'll do," Cynthia shrugged.

"Okay," Rory laughed. "I guess I've got a wedding dress, then. Let me go get changed."

 **\- - PAGE BREAK - -**

"Well?" Jess asked when they walked into Lane and Zach's house.

"I got one," Rory smiled.

"Do I get to see it?"

"Of course not!" Cynthia cried. "It's bad luck!"

Jess looked over her shoulder to Rory, who snorted at the idea and nodded.

"How were the boys?" Lane asked, kneeling down to give each of her kids a hug.

"They were perfect little demons, weren't you?" Jess ruffled the boys' hair.

"Ya," Steven nodded excitedly.

"Excellent," Lane grinned at them. "Did they eat?"

"We had grilled cheese about an hour ago."

"Eese," Kwan agreed.

"Did you say thank you to Uncle Jess?" Lane asked the boys.

"Ank you," The boys smiled up at him.

"Thank you," Lane echoed.

"Anytime," Jess assured her. "Somebody needs to teach them the important things in life."

"What was today's lesson?" Rory asked, picking up Steve and spinning him around.

"The importance of The Clash."

"Oh, and what did you learn?" Rory asked the boys.

"Sid a wanker," Kwan smiled, obviously proud of himself for remembering this phrase.

Lorelai covered her mouth with her hand to keep the boys from seeing her laugh while Lane glared at Jess.

"Seriously?"

"It's an important lesson," Jess shrugged. "We can't have them growing up thinking that Sid Vicious was bigger than he actually was."

"Want riot, want riot!" Steve rocked back and forth in Rory's arms, singing to himself.

"Oh," Rory snorted and hugged the three year old tightly.

"You have to admit, it's cute," Jess frowned at Lane.

"I don't have to admit anything," she tried not to smile.

"You already did," Jess smirked.

"Get lost," Lane threw a stuffed toy at his head, making the boys laugh. "Say bye to Uncle Jess and Auntie Rory."

"Bye!" Kwan waved enthusiastically while his brother gave each of them a hug.

"Bye guys," Rory smiled fondly at her godsons. "We'll see you later."

As they were leaving, Rory heard both boys run into the other room singing and glared at Jess.

"What?" he tried to look innocent.

"She's going to kill you one of these days," Rory shook her head.

"No she's not," he rolled his eyes. "Her life would be far too boring without me, and I teach her kids important lessons."

"You taught them the lyrics to White Riot!"

"And your point is?"

"I fear for our children!"

"Why? They'll be the most well-educated kids in school- at least in the Arts," Jess argued. "Don't tell me you weren't a little proud of them."

"That's not the point!" Rory tried to stand firm.

"Sure it is," Jess threw an arm around her shoulders.

"You two are ridiculous," Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Rory, I will have you know that by age three you knew all the words to God Save the Queen and would only go to sleep if you were listening to Bananarama."

Jess and Cynthia both started laughing hysterically at this announcement, making Rory glare and smack the both of them.

"Thank you for that," she frowned at her mother.

"Hey, just think about how mad your grandmother was when we went to the Christmas party and I showed all her friends your new trick," the older woman offered.

"God, please tell me there are pictures of that!" Jess begged.

"Unfortunately, there aren't," Lorelai sighed. "But it was just as fantastic as you think it was."

"How did I end up so normal?" Rory mused.

"You're not normal, you just hang out with people who are equally as weird," Cynthia pointed out.

"Speaking of weirdos, weren't Matt and Chris supposed to meet us for lunch?"

"They're probably still hungover," Cynthia rolled her eyes. "How about we meet up for dinner instead?"

"Sounds good," Jess agreed. "7:30?"

"See you then," Cynthia waved and headed in the direction of the Dragonfly, Lorelai following as she needed to get back to work.

"So, do I get to see the dress now?" Jess turned to his fiancee.

"Sure," Rory smiled. "Come upstairs, I'll give you a fashion show."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hi everyone! Firstly, thank you all so much for your reviews, they make me so so happy! I'm so glad you're enjoying. Secondly, I just wanted to drop a quick apology for how... sporadic (is that the word I'm looking for?) the updates have been this time around- or at least that's how I feel. Usually I don't start posting until I'm either finished or exponentially far ahead in my writing, but this story was going in a completely different direction as of 72 hours ago, so there have been a lot of last minute changes. I'm almost done, though, so you can expect regular updates again soon. I think I'm going to stick to every Friday with this story, instead of Wednesday, Thursday _and_ Friday like last time, since this one is far shorter. **

**Anyways, thanks so much for reading, and I hope you enjoy the rest!**

 **-Em**

 **Chapter Seven**

To say that Emily was annoyed with her granddaughter was an understatement. Not only had the girl refused to take any of her suggestions when it came to the food, music and cake, but she had now refused to allow Miss Celine to find her a wedding dress.

"The mall!?" She screeched when Rory told her the next day. "You bought your wedding dress at the mall?"

"Yes," Rory nodded. "I don't see the problem."

She was pacing the apartment above the diner with her cellphone on speaker, while her mother sat on the couch watching her.

"The mall is where you go to buy a pair of shoes, not your wedding dress!" Emily cried. "Why didn't you tell me that you hadn't found a dress yet? Miss Celine could have come and given you all sorts of lovely options."

"I didn't want all sorts of options," Rory argued. "And I didn't want to spend a year's salary either."

"I would have helped you."

"I didn't want your help, Grandma," Rory tried to explain herself. "This is me and Jess's wedding and we want to do it ourselves."

"That's ridiculous," Emily huffed.

"She's serious Mom," Lorelai finally jumped in. "They won't let Luke and I give them money either."

"You're being absurd, Rory."

"I'm being independent," her granddaughter corrected.

"You're being petulant!"

"Mom, let her be," Lorelai sighed. "If this is what they want to do, then let them do it. It's _their_ wedding."

"But-"

"No," Lorelai shook her head. "Let them have their wedding."

"So, was that all you wanted to talk to us about today?" Rory asked after a few seconds of silence. "Because we have a bunch of stuff to work on..."

"Fine," Emily huffed.

"Why don't you come help, Mom?" Lorelai offered. "We're putting together the party favours and centrepieces."

"You're doing them yourself?" Emily asked, her tone betraying her disapproval of this practice.

"Yeah," Rory shrugged. "Come on, Grandma, it'll be fun."

"Perhaps tomorrow."

Rory gave her mother a questioning look, but the other woman just nodded.

"Okay," Lorelai got to her feet. "Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find us."

"Bye, Grandma. Thanks for thinking of the dress." Rory quickly closed the phone and dropped onto the sofa. "She's mad."

"No, she's just confused," Lorelai shook her head. "She doesn't understand the concept of a small wedding that you put together and pay for with your own money. She'll come around."

"She's mad," Rory shook her head.

"Yeah," Lorelai conceded. "But she won't be when she sees how pretty you look on Saturday."

Rory wasn't convinced, but she nodded.

 **\- - PAGE BREAK - -**

"What the hell is all this?" Luke demanded when he came out from the kitchen and found his wife and step-daughter spread out across three large tables with piles of books, ribbon, flowers, craft supplies and disassembled party favours all around them.

"Wedding stuff," Lorelai explained. "Hey, be a gem and get us some coffee and fries."

"What is it all doing here?" Luke ignored her request.

"Being put together. Coffee?"

"No," he shook his head. "You can't just take over half my tables. You need to move."

"But it's for my wedding!" Rory cried.

"I don't care," Luke shook his head. "Take it upstairs."

"There's no food upstairs."

"I will bring the food upstairs," Luke promised.

"But it's so much nicer down here," Lorelai argued. "You know, with the windows and the eye candy behind the counter."

"I don't care. Move."

"But there's so much stuff," Rory whined. "And we just got it all set up and settled."

"You can not work here."

"Please Luke. Please, please, please!" Rory begged, giving him her very best 'Rory Eyes'. "Don't you want me to have a good wedding?"

"Of course I do!" Luke scoffed. "But-"

"Then don't you think I should be allowed to work here?"

"Fine," he huffed. "But if people come in and need the tables-"

"We'll shuffle," Rory promised. "Thanks Luke!"

"So, how about that coffee and fries now, Hon?" Lorelai asked.

Her husband glared at her and shuffled off, mumbling under his breath about how he was being manipulated.

"Hey!" Lane walked in as Luke left, Brian and the boys following behind her.

"Hey!" Rory smiled up at her. "Hi Brian!"

"Hey, Rory," Brian waved and made his way over to the counter to order.

"Hi boys!" Rory held her arms open for Steve and Kwan to give her a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"We're getting snacks and going to see Halmee," Steve smiled, referring to their grandmother.

"Oh, fun!" Rory nodded. "Well make sure to say 'hi' to her for me."

"Okay!" Kwan jumped around eagerly.

"Steve, Kwan, you ready?" Brian came back over with a takeout bag.

"Bye Auntie!" Both boys gave Rory another hug, waved goodbye to their mother and followed Brian out the door happily.

"So, should we get to work?" Lane asked.

"Absolutely," Rory nodded. "So for the centrepieces, it's three books tied with a bow and a mason jar with a daisy on top."

"Got it," Lane nodded and reached for the stack of book. "Where did you get all these?"

"We raided all the thrift stores from here to Philly and bought anything with a pretty cover," Rory laughed.

"Well that explains why the genres are over the place!" Lorelai frowned, sorting through the piles. "I mean, I was wondering what the Roman Empire had to do with marriage."

"Yeah, don't read into the titles," Rory shook her head.

As they tied the books together, Luke brought over coffee and fries, along with a plate of donuts and a lecture about glitter.

"You cannot open those in here!" he pointed to the assorted vials in their pile of craft supplies.

"But-" Rory started to argue, but Luke stood his ground.

"No," he shook his head. "You can take up all my tables and turn my diner into a wedding factory, but there is no way I'm letting you use glitter in here again. Last time you did that people were picking it out of their food for a month. Never again!"

He reached over and took the vials away.

"Hey!" his wife protested.

"You can have them back when you leave," he promised.

"Fine," both his wife and step-daughter sulked.

"Good. Call me when you need more food," Luke patted them both on the head patronizingly and went back to hiding in the storage room, figuring he would be better off not watching the chaos they were creating in his diner.

 **\- - PAGE BREAK - -**

When Emily joined them an hour later, Rory was shocked.

"Grandma!" She jumped to her feet as the older woman walked through the door. "What are you doing here?"

"I was invited, was I not?"

"Of course!" Rory nodded eagerly. "Come, sit! We were just about to start putting the favours together. Do you want some coffee?"

"Alright," Emily nodded and pulled out a chair, wiping it down with a handkerchief before sitting.

"Luke!" Rory turned and yelled in the direction of the store room, making her grandmother wince.

"You bellowed?" Luke emerged, an annoyed look on his face. "Emily, how are you?"

"Quite well, thank you," the older woman nodded to her son-in-law.

"We need more coffee," Rory smiled sweetly.

"You work here, you know where the coffee is."

"Yeah, but I'm really comfy over here," she wrinkled her nose.

"You ruined her," Luke glared at his wife, who was giving her daughter a proud look.

"I didn't ruin her, I perfected her," she scoffed. "So, coffee?"

"I'm nothing but an enabler," Luke grumbled and went to get another mug.

"But you're very good at it," Lorelai offered.

This didn't seem to make Luke feel better, but it certainly entertained Rory and Lane.

"What exactly are you doing?" Emily asked, looking at the cluttered table in front of her.

"Well, we _were_ putting together the centrepieces," Lorelai filled her in. "But we finished that a few minutes ago. Now we're working on the table numbers."

"Excuse me?"

"We're forgoing traditional, boring table numbers and assigning people to tables named after our favourite fictional couples," Rory explained. "The head table is Cathy and Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights."

"Why would you pick such a morbid couple?" Emily frowned at her granddaughter.

"Jess is broody and moody," Lorelai offered, giggling at her inadvertent rhyme.

"We have a thing for the Bronte's," Rory rolled her eyes at her mother. "It was between Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, and we liked the Wuthering Heights quote better."

"Quote?"

"Oh, yeah," Rory nodded. "Each table has a couple and our favourite quote from their book or movie or whatever."

"That's very unique," Emily smiled at her granddaughter. "Well, how can I help?"

"How's your calligraphy, Mom?" Lorelai offered her a set of pens.

"This is what I want them to look like," Rory showed her a sample.

"Alright," Emily nodded and took one of the scrap pieces of paper scattered around the table to practice. "How's this?"

"Grandma, that looks amazing!" Rory gaped at the beautiful inscription. "Where did you learn how to do that?"

"I was a debutante in the time of letters," she smiled proudly. "I've held onto a thing or two."

"Geez, Mom!" Lorelai smiled. "You've been holding out on us!"

"You are definitely in charge of the table names," Rory handed the list over. "Go to town."

"Alright," Emily laughed and looked down the list. "Estella and Pip never ended up together."

"No, but they had a good story," Rory shrugged.

"Who is Miracle Max?"

"He's the Miracle Man in The Princess Bride," Lorelai explained. "Have you never seen it?"

"No."

"Stay for dinner, we'll watch it tonight!" Rory offered excitedly. "Grandma, you'll love it."

"I don't know if I can tonight."

"Please!" Rory begged. "We'll have a Gilmore night. Just you, me and Mom."

Rory saw her mother cringe and kicked her under the table.

"Yeah, Mom," Lorelai winced and pretended to be enthusiastic. "Come on!"

"Well, alright," Emily finally agreed. "If you insist."

"We do!" Rory nodded.

Emily smiled warmly and turned her attention back to the list while Rory stuck her tongue out at her mother.

"Anna Karenina?" Emily scoffed. "Really, Rory! And Catherine Barkley? Must you fill your wedding day with death?"

"It's not my fault all the good love stories end with someone dying!" Rory argued.

Emily just shook her head in amusement and got to work on the placards while Rory, Lane and Lorelai started assembling the party favours- Smores Kits.

\- - **PAGE BREAK - -**

When Lane had to leave to go pick up the twins, Lorelai suggested that they pack it in as well and get some dinner.

"What do you feel like, Mom?" she turned to the eldest Gilmore. "Anything on the menu here, or we could order pizza, or get Chinese?"

"Oh! How about Chinese with a side of Luke's garlic bread?" Rory suggested.

"Sounds just disgusting enough to work," Lorelai agreed. "Mom?"

"I supposed I'll have to defer to the two of you for proper movie night cuisine," Emily frowned.

"It's always best to leave it to the professionals- Luke!" Lorelai skipped back to the storage room to ask her husband to make the bread, while Rory dug around in a drawer for a takeout menu.

"So, here or the house?" Lorelai asked her daughter when she returned.

"Whichever," Rory shrugged, trying to listen to the person on the other end of the phone. "No, Al, I don't want your special of the day... Grandma, any preferences?"

"I've always been partial to Kung Pao chicken."

"You like it spicy, eh Mom?" Lorelai smirked.

"Lorelai," Emily rolled her eyes at her daughter.

"What? It was just an observation."

"Nothing is just an observation with you," her mother huffed. "There's always some sort of innuendo."

"Could you two maybe take this over there," Rory put the phone to her shoulder.

"Give me that," Lorelai rolled her eyes and snatched the phone from her daughter, silencing Al and putting in their order. "Let's go back to the house."

"Alright," Rory nodded. "Coffee for the walk?"

"Absolutely," Lorelai nodded. "I'm just going to go tell Luke we're leaving."

 **\- - PAGE BREAK - -**

When Emily went home that night, all three women were in an oddly good mood. Emily had thoroughly enjoyed both the food and the movie, and both Rory and Lorelai had had fun watching it with her.

"We should do this more often," Lorelai offered at the end of the night. "It was fun."

"It was, wasn't it?" Emily smiled at her daughter. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Lorelai smiled back.

"Well, I guess I'll see you on Saturday," Emily turned to her granddaughter.

"Thanks for all your help today," Rory hugged her.

"It was my pleasure," Her grandmother hugged back. "If you need anything else, just call."

"I will," Rory promised.

Once Emily was gone, Rory headed back to her own apartment for the night, promising to tell Luke that the coast was clear when she got there.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

Wedding day arrived faster than Rory anticipated and accompanied by far more nausea than she thought was necessary. The week flew by in a blur of arguments and last minute plans with her grandmother and before she knew it it was Friday night and April had just showed up for her 'Bachelorette Party'. She used that term loosely, as it was just movie night at her Mom's house.

"God, we have a terrible Bachelorette Party track record," Lane sighed as they settled onto the couch together.

"Well, in your defence, I didn't give you much time to plan," Rory offered. "Seeing as I only told you I was getting married a couple weeks ago."

"True," Lane nodded, then turned her attention to Steve, who had insisted on coming with his mother to the party. "Steve, don't eat that!"

Rory laughed as her best friend jumped up and chased her son into the kitchen to try and get whatever he was eating out of his mouth.

Paris had come into town early for the night and was quick to take Lane's place on the couch.

"So you're sure about this?"

"Pretty damn," Rory laughed. "Why, do you have doubts?"

"No," Paris shook her head. "I just want you to be sure."

"That's very sweet, Paris. I'm sure. I've been sure for five years."

"Okay. So, what are we watching?"

"Mom!" Rory called over her shoulder. "What are we watching?"

"Tonight, for your viewing pleasure, we will be having a bridal extravaganza!" Lorelai announced dramatically. "Including, but not limited to, _Bringing Up Baby, Father of the Bride, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, The Philadelphia Story_ and the ever classic, _Royal Wedding_."

"Wow," Cynthia nodded approvingly. "That's quite the line-up."

"I am nothing if not a talented movie picker," Lorelai beamed. "So, what are we feeling first?"

" _Bringing Up Baby_!" Rory and Lane both scoffed at the older woman.

"As if there's anything else to start with," Rory rolled her eyes.

"I'm so glad I raised you to understand these things," Lorelai laughed. "Alright, everybody settle in and I'll get the first round of snacks."

"I'll help!" Sookie jumped up.

"So does it feel weird?" April asked, curling up on the couch beside her stepsister.

"Does what feel weird?"

"You're going to be married tomorrow," she explained. "Doesn't that feel weird?"

"April, I've been living with Jess for five years now," Rory laughed. "Nothing is changing."

"You're not taking his last name?" Paris asked.

"I'm hyphenating."

"Have you told Mom yet?" Lorelai asked, walking back into the living room with a plate of tater tots and mini pizzas.

"No, I don't see any need to tell her," Rory shook her head.

"You don't see any need to tell your grandmother your last name?" Sookie frowned.

"What's she going to use it for?"

"You're her next of kin!" Lane pointed out.

"No, Mom is," Rory shook her head. "And what Emily Gilmore doesn't know, can't hurt her."

"You really are my daughter," Lorelai smiled proudly. "Alright, I'm making margaritas, who wants one?"

"Me!" Everyone raised their hands except Rory.

"Rory?" Lane frowned at her friend.

"Maybe later," she shrugged.

"What about me?" April asked eagerly.

" _One_ ," Lorelai narrowed her eyes at the girl. "And if you tell your dad, I'll deny everything."

"Deal!" she grinned excitedly.

"You sure you don't want one?" Lorelai asked her daughter.

"No thanks," Rory shook her head.

She didn't have the best track record with Margaritas, and she wanted to be completely sober on the morning of her wedding- there would be plenty of drinking after she said 'I do' however.

 **\- - PAGE BREAK - -**

Rory's decision not to imbibe turned out to be one of her best. Sookie had taken off after the first movie, not wanting to leave Jackson alone with the kids for too long. By the time the rest of them made it to the fourth movie, Rory and April were the only sober people left in the room- and thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Paris, being the lightweight that she was, had passed out beside Steve on the living room floor and started talking in her sleep.

"Does she usually do that?" April asked Rory, a terrified look on her face as Paris babbled about a hostile takeover of Rory's wedding.

"Yep. It was so much fun living with her in college," Rory rolled her eyes.

"I bet."

"Hey!" Lorelai dropped onto the couch beside them, her sixth margarita in hand. "Guess what?"

"What?"

"You're getting married tomorrow!" she slapped Rory's knee repeatedly.

"Yes, I'm aware of that," Rory flinched. "Stop hitting me."

"But I'm so excited!"

"Okay, no more drinking for you," Rory peeled the glass out of her mother's hand and passed it to April. "How do you even still remember how to make these?"

"Tequila, green stuff, ice," her mother shrugged. "It's not hard."

"How much tequila?" April spluttered after taking a sip.

"All of it," Lorelai giggled. "I dropped the bottle."

"Give me that," Rory took the glass back from April "I'm going to make some coffee."

"I love coffee!"

"Watch her," Rory instructed April.

"But she's scaring me," her sister frowned.

"Don't worry, she only bites her kids when she's drunk," Rory strolled off to the kitchen.

"That's not helpful!" April called after her.

"RORY!" Cynthia cried when she walked in. "There you are!"

"Here I am," Rory smiled. "What are you doing?"

"We're making s'mores!" Lane held up an open bag of marshmallows and gave it a shake, sending the fluffy food flying all over the kitchen. "Oops!"

"You're missing a couple key ingredients there," Rory observed. "You know, like chocolate and heat."

"But these are the best part!" Lane argued.

"Wanna see how many I can fit in my mouth?" Cynthia asked eagerly.

"More than anything in the world," Rory nodded sarcastically. "But it looks like you've run out."

She grabbed the bag from the table and hid it behind her back.

"Drag!" Lane whined. "Now what are we gonna do?"

"I'm gonna make some coffee, you're gonna drink a cup or two, and then you're gonna take your kid home to bed."

"What kid?" Cynthia wrinkled her nose. "I don't have kids."

"Not _your_ kid," Rory laughed. " _Her_ kid. The one using Paris as a mattress."

"Oh yeah!" Lane nodded like a rag doll. "I've got one of those... no, wait! I've got two!"

"Yes, yes you do," Rory patted her head, then turned to make an extra-extra strong pot of coffee.

"I wish I had kids," Cynthia mused sadly. "I love kids. Rory, why don't we have kids?"

"Together?" Rory raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Cynthia pouted. "We'd make such pretty babies!"

"Well we're missing some biological components," Rory shrugged.

"But you're my best friend!"

"No way!" Lane cried. "She's my best friend too!"

"Does that make us best friends!?" Cynthia asked excitedly.

"I think so," Lane nodded.

"We're best friends!"

Both girls squealed and hugged each other tightly while Rory cursed herself for not putting video cameras in every room before the drinking started.

Once the coffee was brewing, Rory left her two friends to bond and went to check on April.

"So, I was think-"

"Shh!" April hissed as she walked in.

Lorelai had passed out and was laying across April's lap, much to her stepdaughter's amusement.

"Well isn't that adorable?" Rory snickered. "Let me guess, she was in the middle of explaining why Emily Gilmore is Stalin incarnate?"

"Actually she was explaining how everything I'll ever need to know can be explained by Scooby-Doo."

"Oh, that's a new one," Rory laughed. "Alright, we should probably get her up to bed."

"Or, we could wait for Dad to get home and make him carry her upstairs," April suggested.

"If you're fine having a drunken 42 year old sleeping on you," Rory shrugged.

"She's not too heavy," April shrugged.

"I'm going to go get some ice cream then," Rory laughed. "Any preferences?"

"Some of everything with chocolate sauce and that candy on the second shelf."

"Good choice!"

 **\- - PAGE BREAK - -**

"We're here," Matt stormed into the house an hour later. "Where are the strippers?"

"Man, shut up!" Chris rolled his eyes. "Rory!?"

"Will you two shut it?!" Rory hissed, rushing into the entryway.

"The hangover hitting you already?" Matt laughed, grabbing Chris in a headlock.

"Yep, that's it," she rolled her eyes. "Now, please go collect your girlfriend from my kitchen."

"Yo! Cindy!" Matt continued to yell. "Indie Cindy!"

"Good lord," Rory sighed as Jess finally entered the house with the rest of the party. "Are you as wasted as he is?"

"All of Ireland isn't as wasted as he is," Jess laughed. "What about you?"

"I'm as sober as they come and enjoying every minute of it," she assured him. "Zach, Lane is passed out in April's room and Steve is in the living room."

"On it," he nodded and went to retrieve his wife while Brian went to get Steve.

"What about me?" Doyle asked.

"Also in the living room," Rory pointed. "And planning a hostile takeover of my wedding."

"Well at least it won't be boring," Jess shrugged.

"Dad!" April called weakly from the living room. "Help!"

Luke frowned and made his way into the living room, Jess and Rory following behind him.

"Well isn't that charming," he frowned at his drooling wife.

"My legs are going numb," April complained. "Help me!"

"Okay," Luke sighed and took hold of Lorelai's arms, pulling her into a sitting position and over his shoulder in a fireman's carry.

"Wow, she's really out," April laughed.

"Yeah, that happens," Luke shrugged. "You should go to bed too. It's late."

"As soon as my bed is free," she promised.

Luke gave her a parental glare, then turned and started making his way up the stairs.

"So, good night?" Jess asked.

"Pretty good," April nodded. "I've never been so happy to be sober."

"Entertaining, was it?"

"Well, before Mom passed out, she was explaining how everything you need to know in life can be explained by Scooby-Doo," Rory offered. "And Cynthia was trying to fit an entire bag of marshmallows in her mouth for a while, before she and Lane declared that they were best friends-in-law."

"And Paris was as entertaining as ever," April agreed.

"I heard," Jess nodded. "Hostile takeover of the wedding."

"Oh, and Cynthia wants to have a baby with me," Rory remembered.

"Excuse me?"

"We'd make very pretty babies," she shrugged.

"You would," April mused. "You both have very good face structure and metabolism."

"Noted," Rory laughed.

One by one, the boys removed their wives and girlfriends from the house in varied states of drunken stumbling, and then it was only the three of them.

"So I'll see you in the morning," April hugged them both. "I promised Kirk I'd help him set up the square."

"Oh, thank God!" Rory breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, I thought you might want someone sane there to supervise."

"You're the best sister ever!" Rory hugged her again. "Seriously."

"I know."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

When the alarm went off, Rory was quick to turn it off, but not so quick to get out of bed. She'd had plans to spend her morning drinking coffee and eating breakfast and being excited, but instead she lay in bed beside the man that would be her husband in a few short hours, a blissful smile plastered on her face.

"Morning," Jess woke up a few minutes after her.

"Morning," Rory turned to smile at him. "We're getting married today."

"Yes we are. Excited?"

"You have no idea," Rory let out a childlike giggle and finally rolled out of bed, making her way over to the coffee maker.

She poured two mugs and brought one over to Jess, sitting down on the bed in front of him.

"So, when are you going to your mom's to get pretty?"

"After breakfast. Are you saying I'm not pretty now?" Rory frowned.

"Of course not," he shook his head quickly. "You're beautiful. The most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

"You're just saying that because I agreed to marry you."

"You caught me," Jess agreed, then leaned over and kissed her. "Are you happy?"

"I don't think I've ever been this happy," Rory shook her head in disbelief.

"Good," he kissed her again. "Come on, I'll buy you breakfast."

"Such a gentleman!" Rory got up and pulled on a pair of jeans and a sweater.

"There they are!" Luke beamed as they walked down the stairs. "So, either one of you need a getaway driver?"

"I'm good," Rory laughed. "Jess?"

"Oh, I didn't mean him," Luke shook his head. "He's going down that aisle no matter what. So, what can I get you?"

"Pancakes, with bacon, sausage, two fried eggs and hash browns," Rory listed. "And something chocolate."

"How about chocolate chip pancakes?"

"Perfect," she sat down on a stool and accepted the cup of coffee Luke set in front of her.

"What about you?" Luke turned to his nephew.

"I'll have the special omelette."

"So boring," Rory shook her head disapprovingly. "Luke, where's Mom?"

"She said she would meet you at the house whenever you finished breakfast."

"Great, I'm just going to go check on how things are going in the square," Rory went to get up, but Jess stopped her.

"Everything is fine."

"I just want to check," she tried to pull away, but Jess kept a hand on her leg. "I'll be two seconds."

"No, you're going to sit and eat your breakfast," he shook his head.

"Jess!"

"Rory!"

"Come on! Two seconds!"

"No," he leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Look, pancakes!"

Luke set the plate in front of her, along with a bowl of homemade whipped cream and some chocolate sauce.

"I love you so much!" Rory gushed to her stepfather.

"I love you too," the older man snorted. "Now eat, I'll bring the rest out in a minute."

Jess and Luke exchanged a knowing look, the younger man nodding his thanks to the older.

Unfortunately, Jess couldn't keep her occupied for too long, and once the food had disappeared Rory was out in the square supervising Kirk and his glitter gun.

"Rory!" Jess caught up to her twenty minutes later. "You're supposed to be at your Mom's."

"I'm just making sure it's all perfect."

"It will be," Jess promised. "I'll take care of it myself, okay?"

"But-"

"Go!" Jess turned her away from the square and gave her a light shove. "April will be hear to help any minute."

"Fine," Rory huffed.

"I love you!" Jess called after her.

"You suck!" Rory gave him the finger as she ran off. "See you in a few hours."

 **\- - PAGE BREAK- -**

"There you are!" Lorelai cried in exasperation. "I was about to send out a search party."

"I thought I was the one who was supposed to be dramatic today," Rory rolled her eyes.

"Well, traditionally, sure. But why screw up the dynamic after all these years?"

"Fair point. Coffee?"

"Just made a fresh pot," her mother poured her a mug and pointed to the kitchen table. "Sit, we've got a lot of work to do."

"Well then," Rory scoffed. "You know, Jess says I'm pretty enough already."

"Well, love is blind."

"Are you saying you don't love me?"

"Of course I do," Lorelai patted her head. "But it's all instinct. I mean, you could look like a hairless cat and I'd still have to feed and house you."

"Well that's comforting." Rory mused, plugging in her iPod and dancing around while Lorelai chased her and attempted to make her sit so she could do her hair.

"Rory, are you five years old again?!" She cried. "Sit still!"

"I can't sit still, I'm getting married," Rory laughed giddily.

"Well you can't get married with your hair only half curled, so stop moving!"

"Fine," Rory slumped in her seat and started drumming her fingers against her coffee mug.

"Okay, do you need a shot or something?" Lorelai offered. "Something to calm your nerves?"

"I was wondering when you would offer," Rory laughed.

"I thought I'd try the 'responsible parent' thing," she wrinkled her nose. "I obviously made a mistake. Pick your poison."

Once her coffee was sufficiently spiked, Rory took her seat again and promised to sit still while her mother curled her hair.

"Much better," she smiled serenely as the Bailey's hit her system.

"I'm glad. Now hush and let Mommy work."

"I wasn't aware you needed quiet to work," Rory frowned. "Seeing as that has never been the case in the last twenty-five years."

"You're really enjoying the sound of your own voice today, aren't you?"

"Look who's talking," Rory snorted.

"I'm sorry, did you want to look pretty today? Because if that's the case, do you really think you should be insulting your stylist?" Lorelai raised an eyebrow.

"I suppose you have a point there."

"Is Lane going to be joining us this morning?"

"No, she figured it would be safer to get the boys ready herself, instead of leaving it up to Zach and Brian," Rory shook her head.

"Good call," Lorelai agreed. "Especially since I've personally seen both Zach and Brian leave the house with their pants on backwards."

"How does that even work?"

"I have no idea."

Rory's hair was half done when the doorbell rang, which was why she was confused when her mother asked her to get the door.

"You're closer," she complained.

"I need more coffee."

"You're pathetic."

"Yes I am. Door?"

Rory huffed and got to her feet, trudging out of the kitchen morosely and muttering under her breath.

Her muttering stopped, though, as soon as she opened the door.

"Mia!?"

"I heard someone was getting married," the older woman beamed. "Figured it would be a shame to miss a good party."

"God, Mia!" Rory launched herself into the woman's arms. "I can't believe you're here!"

"I was invited, wasn't I?"

"Of course, but I didn't think you could come!"

"I wouldn't miss my girl's wedding!" Mia scolded. "Now, are you planning to go looking like that, or should we go back inside and finish your hair?"

"Of course, come in, come in!" Rory pulled her inside excitedly.

"Mia!" Lorelai feigned surprise as they entered the kitchen. "What are you doing here?"

"I can't believe you!" Rory shoved her mother angrily. "Why didn't you tell me Mia was coming?!"

"Because I'm evil," she smirked. "Now sit and let me finish your hair, for the love of god!"

"Rory Gilmore, are you being difficult?" Mia pursed her lips.

"Always," Lorelai answered for her.

"Excuse you?" Rory raised an eyebrow. "You are the Queen of difficult."

"And I have taught you far too well. Now sit!"

Rory dropped into her seat again and started chatting excitedly to Mia, telling her all the latest news from Philadelphia and their plans for the day. By the time she had caught Mia up, it was time to get married.

 **\- - PAGE BREAK - -**

They decided to get married in the church, neither one of them being Gazebo people, but made it very clear to Reverend Skinner that they didn't want anything religious in the ceremony.

"Whatever they say at City Hall," Jess had said.

They had even refused Lorelai's offer of the Chuppah that still stood in the front yard of 'The Crap Shack'. The Reverend was more than happy to comply, just thankful to be apart of the day's festivities. While Rory and Lorelai had never been church goers, he had always had a soft spot for the two.

"This isn't very proper," Emily commented to her daughter as they watched Jess and Rory mill around outside the church, chatting with anyone and everyone in between sneaking away to make out.

"Well, _they're_ not very proper," Lorelai shrugged. "We're not exactly traditional here in the Hollow."

"Hmm," Emily pursed her lips.

"You look nice, Mom."

"So do you," her mother conceded.

"Oh, Emily!" Miss Patty came over and embraced the eldest Gilmore, much to her surprise. "It's _so_ good to see you!"

"Yes, thank you," Emily tried to smile.

"Mom, you remember Miss Patty," Lorelai chuckled.

"Of course," her mother nodded politely. "How are you?"

"I'm just wonderful. How are you?" Patty linked her arm through the other woman's and started to lead her away. "Let's get a drink and catch up."

Lorelai watched in amusement as her mother was kidnapped, then went to find her daughter, who had disappeared around the side of the church once again.

"You look amazing!" Jess muttered between kisses.

"You look pretty handsome yourself," Rory laughed.

"It's all April," he admitted. "I don't think I would have been able to button my shirt without her help."

"Aww, she had to dress you?"

"No, she just kept me sharp by mocking me mercilessly."

"Ah, that sounds much more like April."

"She kept Kirk in line all morning too," Jess laughed. "It's like she's been taking lessons from Miss Patty."

"Not Luke?" Rory questioned.

"No, she's got that whole verbal thing going," he shook his head. "Luke just throws him out."

"Well there was that one time when Patty beat him up," Rory pointed out.

"I'm pretty sure April threw a plate at his head last year," Jess recalled.

"God, that was awesome!" Rory laughed at the memory.

"So, you still happy?" Jess went back to kissing.

"Completely, perfectly and incandescently happy," Rory grinned.

"Good," Jess recaptured her lips.

"Alright, Lovebirds!" Lorelai interrupted them. "There'll be plenty of time for that later. You have a wedding to attend."

"I'm perfectly fine here," Jess frowned. "Rory?"

"If you don't come now, I'm sending Emily over," Lorelai crossed her arms.

"See you in there," Jess kissed Rory one more time, then jogged off to find Luke while Rory and Lorelai laughed at him.

"Well?" Lorelai turned to her daughter. "You ready to get hitched?"

"Yeah," Rory beamed. "I think I am."

"Let's go then."

The girls linked arms and strolled towards the doors of the church, hanging back while the rest of the guests filed in.

"Hey!" Christopher came running over. "Am I late?"

"Right on time," Rory smiled and hugged her father. "You better get inside."

"You look beautiful," Chris beamed at his daughter. "I'm so happy for you."

"Thanks Dad," Rory grinned.

"Okay," he placed a kiss on her forehead, kissed Lorelai's cheek and went to find his seat, leaving only Lorelai, Lane and Rory outside.

"Ready?" Rory turned to her best friend.

"Ready," Lane grinned and hugged her. "I'll see you in there."

Lane stepped through the doors and music started to play- Rebel Waltz by The Clash.

"Last chance to run," Lorelai turned to her daughter. "Any second thoughts?"

"Not a single one," Rory looked through the doors to the man standing at the end of the aisle.

"Alright then," Lorelai gave her a watery smile. "This is it."

"This is it," Rory agreed. "I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, Kid." Lorelai linked arms with her daughter and turned towards the door. "Let's go."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

"Who gives this woman?" Reverend Skinner asked. "Not that she is in any way property."

Everyone laughed as Lorelai got to her feet.

"I do."

"Thank you," the reverend smiled. "Now, Jess and Rory have elected to say a few words of their own, in lieu of traditional vows"

"I guess I'll start," Jess offered. "Um, I'm not one for words, which is pretty ironic when you think about it, but I've never had trouble coming up with words when it comes to you. Rory Gilmore, you are the best thing that ever happened to me. From the first day I met you, I knew you were something special and I've spent every day since then trying to be good enough for you. I got turned around a couple times and I broke your heart, but as Hemingway says, 'the first draft of anything is shit' and I've spent the last five years trying to make that first draft up to you. And now, here we are at the first chapter of a story that no one has read yet, where every chapter is better than the last and the first one starts like this: 'Once upon a time there was a boy who loved a girl and her laughter was the question that he wanted to spend his whole life answering.'"

Rory had tears in her eyes as she listened to him speak, laughing at the Hemingway reference and trying not to sob when he finished with one of her favourite pieces of poetry.

"Rory?" Reverend Skinner turned to her.

"I don't know how to top that," she sniffled and took the piece of paper Lane offered her. "I've read hundreds of books in my life, written thousands of words about every subject under the sun," she read, "But I was still at a loss when I sat down to write this, so I may have borrowed a little bit."

Jess chuckled, squeezing her hand encouragingly.

"From the day you walked into my life and asked me to climb out my bedroom window with you, I knew you were different. And then you stole and vandalized my books, and I didn't know what to think of you! You made me excited and intrigued and you made me think about everything differently. From that day on, our lives became a tangled web that I never wanted to escape. When you showed up again five years ago, it was like coming up for air when I didn't even realize I was drowning. 'You are a part of my existence, part of my soul. You have been in every line I've ever read.' You have been my biggest support in everything I've done and I will never be able to properly thank you for that. I spent a long time trying to get over you, but now I know that that never would have happened. Our love is like a razor's edge, drawing up through the center of my life and cutting everything in two, before you and after you, and I never want to look back. Wherever you are, I've always known that that was where I belonged, that I was safe there. You've proven that time and time again, especially in these last few months, when I've needed you more than ever. Thank you for keeping me safe, for being my shelter in the storm. I love you, Dodger, more than anything in the world and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you."

She could barely get the last couple sentences out through her tears and from the corner of her eye she could see her mother, grandmother and Mia crying with her.

"And now for the legal vows," Reverend Skinner sniffled discreetly. "Do you Jess Mariano, take Lorelai Leigh Gilmore to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Jess beamed.

"And do you, Lorelai Leigh Gilmore, take Jess Mariano to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer, as long as you both shall live?"

"I do," Rory sniffled.

"The rings?"

Rory turned to Lane and took the ring she held out as Jess did the same with Luke.

"Now, repeat after me," the reverend instructed. "With this ring, I thee wed."

"With this ring," Jess slipped the ring onto Rory's finger with minimal difficulties. "I thee wed."

"And Rory," Reverend Skinner prompted.

"With this ring," Rory tried to put the ring on Jess's finger but couldn't get it past his knuckle. "Mother fucker," she cursed under her breath, making everyone in earshot laugh.

"It's good enough," Reverend Skinner told her, trying not to look amused at her foul language. "Just say, I thee wed."

"I thee wed," Rory frowned, then allowed Jess to twist the ring on himself.

"Well that's never coming off," he observed.

"Good," Rory grinned.

"By the power vested in me by the state of Connecticut," Reverend Skinner smiled brightly. "I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

The church erupted into cheers and applause as Rory jumped into Jess's arms, wrapping her legs around his waist and kissing him senseless.

As they made their way up the aisle a minute later, accompanied by their families, confetti and glitter was thrown all over the place, causing them all to duck and run as quickly as they could.

"So, now what?" Jess asked once they were outside, still grinning like a madman.

"Wanna go make out behind the church?" Rory shrugged.

"Forget it!" Lorelai grabbed her daughter's arm before she could run off with her husband. "You have guests to hug."

"Screw that," Jess shook his head. "I'm starving!"

"Me too!" Rory agreed. "So how about, instead of hugging people, we get food?"

"Rory, you have to thank your guests," her grandmother scolded.

"We will!" Rory promised. "After there's food. Come on."

She grabbed Jess's hand and ran off to the square.

"Oh my God!" She gasped. "It's perfect."

Twinkle lights covered the square and the tables were decorated exactly as Rory had wanted them. It was simple, sure, but everything she could have wished for. Music was already playing over the speaker system, Lane's pre-mixed CD playing to get the party started, while Kirk ordered around his latest bar company- 'Adequately Attractive Bartenders for Adequately Attractive Affairs'.

Sookie had set up an appetizers table and Rory and Jess attacked it with a vengeance, neither one of them having eaten since very early that morning.

Once they had eaten, they started to make the rounds, thanking everyone for coming blah, blah, blah. Jess was thoroughly bored by this and kept trying to sneak away with Rory to find somewhere to make out, unfortunately Luke, Lorelai, Mia _and_ Emily kept getting in his way.

"Jess, I swear to God I'm going to send _your_ mother over next time," Lorelai threatened the third time she found them hiding.

"Low blow," Jess cringed.

"Stop trying to bail on your own wedding!"

Rory snickered and pulled her husband (she was never going to get tired of that phrase) back into the thick of things. "Come on, let's go talk to my dad."

"The place looks great!" Chris complimented his daughter as they approached.

"Thanks," Rory hugged him. "It was all Jess and April's doing. I was banned."

"Only for the morning," Jess rolled his eyes.

"Still banned."

"Rory!" April came running over excitedly. "Lorelai says it's time to sit for dinner."

"Awesome!" Rory beamed. "Come on!"

She grabbed Jess and April and pulled them towards the head table, leaving her father to take his own seat.

Rory had spent hours trying to put together the seating chart for this wedding, turning it into a full on military procedure- complete with visual aids.

"Wow, this looks like an episode of The West Wing," Lorelai had observed when she found Rory set up in the kitchen.

"My life is too complicated!" Rory had cried. "What the hell am I supposed to do with everyone?"

"I don't know, but I beg of you, put Grandma and TJ at the same table!"

"Oh!" Rory's eyes lit up at the suggestion.

"Don't do that!" Luke had joined them, figuring someone needed to be the voice of reason.

"Why not?" Rory cried. "Think about how fun it will be!"

"Think about how long it will take for her to stop complaining about it," Luke countered.

"It's so worth it," Rory shook her head and adjusted the respective cards. "Okay, so Grandma, Liz, TJ and Doula will sit at the Estella and Pip table."

"That's only three and a half," Lorelai took a seat. "Tables seat eight."

"Dad can sit there too," Rory added her father's name to the table. "With Zach and Brian and the twins."

"That's nine," Luke pointed out.

"Yeah, but Doula, Steve and Kwan probably won't be doing much sitting," Rory reasoned. "Next table."

The first four tables were planned out, after that Rory decided to let the town work it out themselves. Right in front of the head table sat all of Jess and Rory's closest friends from Philadelphia, along with Paris and Doyle, Lucy and Olivia, and Rory's business partner, Shelly. This turned out to be terrible planning on Rory's part. As soon as everyone was seated, Chris and Matt started heckling them and were quickly joined by Lucy and Olivia.

"Would you shut up!" Rory finally yelled at the table, throwing a dinner roll at Matt's head. "I'm trying to eat."

"You're no fun!" Matt ducked the flying bread.

"Let us eat in peace, or I'm revoking your access to the open bar," Jess challenged.

"As you were," Matt gave a scared salute.

"That's what I thought," Rory returned to her dinner smugly.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

After cutting the cake, the speeches started. Jess and Rory had decided to just give their friends free reign, so they weren't surprised when Lane had to fight it out with Cynthia and the boys to decide who got to speak first. She ended up sending the twins to steal the microphone and bring it to her while the others were distracted.

"Who ever said kids weren't useful," Lane joked. "Hi, everyone! For those of you who don't know, I'm Lane- the maid of honour and I just wanted to take a few minutes to talk about my best friend and her new husband. I've known Rory for twenty years, we have been through thick and thin together, she is the godmother to my children and after all this time... I'm more than happy to hand her over to someone else."

"Thanks!" Rory laughed.

"That being said," Lane continued. "Jess, I know you are already aware of this, but if you hurt her, so help me God I will reign hell down on you with the power of Mama Kim."

Jess nodded solemnly and made the Scout's Honour gesture.

"Now, at my wedding, you read a letter I had sent you when we were in third grade. Unfortunately, you never did stuff like that when we were younger, so I can't do the same. I could share plenty of embarrassing stories about you, but every single one of them implicates me as well, so I won't. Instead, I'm just going to be really sappy for a few seconds. Rory you are my best friend, and have been since we met on the first day of kindergarten. While I don't have any biological siblings, I've always thought of you as my sister. And now, we can complete the family with the obnoxious older brother nobody ever wanted."

Everyone laughed as Jess balled up a napkin to throw at his surrogate sister-in-law.

"But as long as you're happy," Lane laughed. "I suppose I can put up with him. I love you guys so much and I can only hope that you have a marriage as wonderful as mine- though it's a pretty high bar. To Rory and Jess!"

She held up her champagne glass and the rest of the guests followed suit. "To Rory and Jess!"

"Thank you!" Rory got up and gave Lane a teary hug.

"I was serious," Lane glared at Jess over Rory's shoulder. "I don't care how butch you think you are, I'll kick your sorry ass."

"Noted," Jess rolled his eyes.

"Okay, okay!" Matt, Chris and Cynthia jumped up from their table and grabbed the microphone out of Lane's hands. "Our turn."

"Oh, God," Rory cringed.

"It's too late now," Jess smirked.

"Hello!" Matt greeted the crowd. "I'm Matt and this is Cynthia and Chris. Up until about a year ago, we were Jess and Rory's roommates so we've had front row seats to their relationship, and let me tell you, it's an entertaining place to be."

"Glad we could help," Jess rolled his eyes as everyone laughed.

"Shh," Matt waved at him. "I'm about to say nice things about you. I've known Jess for a little less than eight years now. The first time I met him, he was pimping his first novel to anyone who would listen and I knew as soon as I read that book that I wanted to publish it. Within a week I had introduced him to my good friend, Chris and six months later, Truncheon was born. We've been working together ever since and I will always be grateful for that day that Jess walked into the crap publishing firm I was working in to sell his soul, because I gained one of the best friends I've ever had."

"Aww," Rory put a hand to her heart, smiling at her boys.

"Okay, that's enough sappiness," Chris grabbed the mic from his hands. "When we first met Rory, she was in a very strange place in her life. Jess had gone to promote his book and came home with a girl who looked like she had just crawled out of the rabbit hole. The first time I met the Rory that I know now, she scared me half to death."

"What!?" Rory cried. "But I'm a kitten!"

"Ha!" Everybody at the table laughed sarcastically, making Rory frown.

"The first time I met you," Chris continued. "You came barrelling into the store from upstairs, screaming for Jess and talking a mile a minute. I had never seen someone who looked so far from sanity."

"Thanks," Rory pursed her lips.

"I thought you were about to have some sort of psychotic break, but somehow Jess made sense out of your crazy ramblings, solved the problem and you were gone just as fast as you had appeared. That is the Rory that I have come to love, the Rory that I think of as my friend and I'm so incredibly happy that you and Jess have each other, because I don't think there's another person on the planet to deal with the sheer amount of crazy in your head."

"Here, here!" Jess raised his glass.

"So what we're trying to say," Cynthia took the mic, "Is that we are just so happy that you two are part of our lives, that you're an integral part of our Truncheon family, and we're absolutely thrilled to be able to share this day with you. To Rory and Jess!"

Luke and Lorelai were next on their feet, taking the microphone from Cynthia and grinning evilly at the newlyweds.

"Hi, Honey!" Lorelai beamed at her daughter. "I bet you're seriously regretting your decision to make this an open mic night right now."

"Little bit," Rory nodded at her mother.

"You should be. God, Sweetie, I am just so incredibly happy for you. It seems like just yesterday that I was laying in bed watching Quincy and going into labour."

"Luke!" Rory pleaded with her stepfather to intercede.

"Okay, okay!" Lorelai backed off. "No embarrassing baby stories. It's every mother's dream to see their child happy and today I have. You and Jess, this has been a long time coming and I realized a while ago that I could stop fighting it, that the hoodlum would make you happy. So all I can really say, is that I am just so desperately happy to see my little girl get married to the man she loves."

Her voice started to crack, so she passed the microphone to Luke.

"Right, uh, I'm not really one for speeches," he said nervously. "But I'll try. Rory, I've known you since you were 7 years old, I've watched you graduate from middle school, high school and college, and I've seen you start a business and grow into an astonishing young woman that I am proud to call my step-daughter. And Jess, you've come so far since your mom shipped you to my doorstep, I don't tell you often enough, but I'm so proud of you and I'm so proud to be your uncle. I can't tell the two of you how happy I am for you today, and I know you're going to be happy for the rest of your lives."

"Guys!" Rory was in tears again as she jumped to her feet and pulled her parents into a group hug. "I love you guys!"

"We love you too!" Lorelai squeezed her tightly.

Once the speeches were finished, Emily came over to say goodbye to the newlyweds, not wanting to stay out too late.

"Rory, I just wanted to say goodnight and give you my congratulations one more time."

"Oh, you're leaving already?" Rory pouted. "But the party's just getting started!"

"I think I'm getting a little too old for parties like this," Emily chuckled, then her expression sobered.

"Your grandfather would be so happy to see you right now," she sighed.

Rory bit her lip and nodded, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Emily shook her head quickly. "I don't mean to bring down the mood."

"No," Rory cut her off. "I like talking about Grandpa. I know how much he wanted to see this."

"He was so proud of you," Emily reached out and wiped a tear from Rory's cheek. "We both were- are."

"Thanks, Grandma." Rory smiled sadly and hugged her again. "I love you."

"I love you too, Dear." Emily squeezed her tightly, then stepped away. "Alright, that's enough sadness for now. This is a party, is it not?"

"It is," Jess agreed and pulled Rory into his side. "Come on, I'll dance with you one more time"

"Are you sure you don't want to stay a little longer?" Rory asked her grandmother. "There's going to be a midnight dessert bar."

"That sounds lovely, but I'm rather tired. Be sure to call soon."

"We will," Rory hugged her again.

"Jess, congratulations."

"Thanks Mrs. Gilmore,"

"Emily," she corrected him. "I suppose it's about time you used my proper name."

"Thanks Emily," Jess smiled, then pulled Rory back towards the party and onto the dance floor with a final wave.

"You okay," he pulled her close and let her rest her head on his shoulder.

"Yeah," she nodded. "I just miss him. He would have been so happy to see this. He loved you so much."

"I was pretty fond of him too," Jess smiled. "But I don't know, maybe he's here."

"Jess, we don't believe in crap like that," Rory rolled her eyes.

"I don't know," he argued. "I think that there might be something to that poetic idea of people living on in memory and all that."

"No you don't. You're just saying that to make me feel better."

"Is it working?" He looked down at her.

"Maybe."

 **\- - PAGE BREAK- -**

It was well past two in the morning when Jess and Rory finally stumbled up to the apartment for the night.

"Well, Mrs. Mariano," Jess grinned at his wife. "Are you happy?"

"Happier than I've ever been in my entire life," Rory stood on tip toe to kiss him. "So, are you ready for all this? Marriage, children, the rest of our lives?"

"Bring it on."


	12. Chapter 12

**One Year Later**

"And do you know what she did next? She yelled at me!" Jess exclaimed. "Now, I know that must be hard to believe, but it happened. She got that look on her face- you know the one- and she started in on me about how crazy I was and how she was absolutely appalled that I could say such a thing."

"Are you turning my daughter against me again?" Rory demanded, leaning against the nursery doorway with her arms crossed.

"I'm not," he shook his head. "I'm telling her a story. Right?"

He looked to the small baby on the changing table for help, only to receive a face full of spit.

"Kid, we talked about this," he scolded. "You're supposed to take _my_ side on these things."

"Why would she do that, when she knows _I'm_ right?" she pushed him out of the way and picked the baby up from the table, giving her a quick snuggle. "She's very smart, you know."

"Of course she is, she's _my_ daughter," Jess nodded.

"Honey, she's smart in spite of that," Rory wrinkled her nose. "Now, come on. There's someone here who wants to meet you."

 _She'd had a nagging feeling that something was off for weeks, but had convinced herself that she was being crazy, it was just nerves. They were in the middle of opening a new branch of Truncheon in Hartford and she had decided to leave Bluestocking and focus on that, it was a lot to deal with._

 _Her convictions were wavering, though. Her nightmares, which had subsided in the months since her grandfather's death, had returned a month or so before and while she had put it off as wedding nerves, the fact that they weren't subsiding gave her pause. They were nowhere near as bad as they had been before- they had barely even been nightmares, but they hadn't failed to make her sick every time. Now she was pretty sure the nausea was from something completely different._

 _She had been thinking about it all day- all week, really- going over all the possibilities and alternate reasons for her symptoms. Much to her dismay, however, she was left with only one viable option, which she had come to terms with while sitting on the bathroom floor that afternoon- pregnancy._

 _Which was why, at two in the morning, she got out of bed and snuck into the bathroom to pee on a stick._

 _She felt bad not including Jess, but she needed to wrap her own head around this before she told anyone else- even her husband._

 _At least, that was what she thought. In the five minutes she spent waiting for the results, she changed her mind._

" _Jess," she shook his shoulder. "Jess, wake up."_

 _He groaned and pulled a pillow over his head._

" _Get up!"_

" _Why?"_

" _I need you."_

" _What's wrong?" he pulled the pillow off and looked up groggily. "Did you have another nightmare?"_

" _No," she shook her head. "I just... I need you to come here."_

" _It's two in the morning," Jess looked at the clock. "What's going on?"_

" _Just come!" Rory huffed and pulled at his hand._

" _Okay, okay," he groaned, letting her take his hand and lead him to the bathroom. "What are we doing?"_

" _We're waiting."_

" _For what?"_

" _For that," she pointed to the pregnancy test on the counter and watched as Jess's eyes grew to the size of saucers._

" _You're..."_

" _I don't know. That's why we're waiting."_

" _But- why- what?!"_

" _I didn't want to tell you until I knew," Rory tried to explain. "I thought I would need more time to process, but then I got really scared sitting here by myself so I woke you up. Sorry."_

" _Don't be sorry," Jess laughed._

" _I figured it out the other day," she continued. "I was getting a lot of nightmares again and they were making me sick, but they shouldn't have been because they weren't that bad. And then I realized that I've been feeling sick a lot more than just after the nightmares, and I had attributed it to the nightmares and stress from the new store, but I've been thinking about it a lot and I don't think that has anything to do with why I'm sick and now here we are."_

 _Jess frowned and tried to work his way through her babbling explanation, nodding slowly._

" _So you've been working this out for a couple days?" he confirmed._

" _Right."_

" _Okay, we need a new rule when it comes to suspected pregnancies."_

" _You want me to tell you?" Rory guessed, biting her lip._

" _I want you to tell me," Jess huffed._

" _Sorry," she looked down at the floor._

 _He laughed and pulled her into his arms. "I know I say this a lot, but what am I going to do with you?"_

" _Well, it looks like you're going to watch me have your baby."_

" _What!?" he held her at arms length, a bewildered smile on his face._

" _Look," she laughed and pointed to the test on the counter which now read 'Pregnant'._

" _We're going to have a baby!" he gaped at the test, then his wife, then back to the test._

" _We're going to have a baby!" Rory agreed, a giddy smile on her face._

" _We're going to have a baby!" Jess pulled her into a hug, lifting her off her feet and spinning her in a circle- a difficult feat in a bathroom that was barely bigger than a refrigerator box._

" _Ow!" Rory laughed when her hip hit the counter._

" _Sorry," Jess set her down and pulled her out of the bathroom. "God, a baby!?"_

" _A baby," she agreed.._

"Oh, she's beautiful!" Mia gushed as Rory placed the small bundle in her arms. "Look at her perfect little fingers."

"Wait till you see her eyes," Jess smiled. "They're all Rory."

"There's a little bit of you in there too," Rory laughed.

"She's a perfect mix of the both of you," Mia smiled. "She's just so lovely and petite!"

"You didn't have to push her out," Rory scoffed. "Petite isn't exactly the phrase I would use."

"Rory," Jess groaned, but Mia simply laughed.

"How's she been sleeping?"

"What's that?" Rory joked.

"Ah, well, it will get better."

"People keep saying that," Rory frowned. "But I think you're lying. I think that's just a clever excuse made up by men to make sure women keep having babies."

"It's been a while since she's slept more than a couple hours," Jess explained.

"Not that you'd be able to tell now," Rory glared at her daughter, who slept happily in Mia's arms. "She's a perfect little angel when there are witnesses."

"So were you," Mia chuckled. "I can remember your mother pacing up and down the kitchen and across the lawn with you for hours at a time. You should have heard the things that came out of her mouth sometimes."

"Oh, I did. I'm assuming they were similar to the things she used to say when I was older and woke her up in the mornings or didn't want to go to bed."

"I once heard her try to bribe you with a bottle of tequila, and threaten to toss you out a window in the next second."

"Sounds about right," Jess nodded. "Although these days you'd probably take the tequila."

"Oh, God!" Rory groaned. "I miss tequila!"

Mia laughed and turned her focus back to the baby.

"I think you'd be a lovely trade off for tequila," she cooed at the baby. "You're absolutely perfect."

"We're pretty sure she's using her perfection for evil instead of good, though," Jess frowned.

"Which shouldn't be a surprise, since she was an absolute demon in the womb," Rory nodded.

" _Jess," Rory whispered. "Jess."_

 _It was barely three in the morning and he was sound asleep. Rory would have loved to have been asleep, but the child of Satan she was carrying seemed to have other ideas, and she wasn't about to suffer alone._

" _Jess," she raised her voice slightly and poked his shoulder, which only resulted in his emitting a low groan and rolling over._

" _Jess!" she leaned over and yelled in his ear._

" _Ah!" he jolted awake, hand to his heart. "What!?"_

" _It won't stop kicking me!" she cried._

" _What won't stop kicking you?" he asked, eyes barely open._

" _The monster under the bed," Rory said sarcastically. "What do you think!?"_

" _Right, sorry," he sighed and sat up. "What do you want me to do about it?"_

" _Make it stop!"_

" _How?"_

" _I don't know!" Rory cried. "I've poked it, I've scolded it, I've threatened it. It's the fucking spawn of Satan!"_

" _Maybe she just doesn't appreciate being called 'it'?" Jess suggested._

" _Does it look like I'm in the mood for your jokes?" she snarled._

" _Not in the least," he shook his head, then leaned down and started to talk to her stomach. "Hey, kid, it's your dad. Could you please stop kicking Mommy? She's getting kind of crazy, and you and I both know she's already got more than enough of that going on."_

 _Not finding this comment at all funny, Rory flicked him in the ear._

" _Ow! Okay, sorry. Seriously, though, kid. You've got to let Mommy sleep," he spoke to her protruding stomach again. "If you don't, she's going to end up giving you an awful name just to get revenge."_

" _It's working," Rory laid down and closed her eyes. "Keep talking."_

 _With a tired groan, Jess reached for his phone and quickly downloaded a book to read to his unborn child._

" _Mr. And Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much..."_

"Give her here," Rory smiled when the baby started to cry. "She probably needs a feed."

"Oh, alright," Mia grumbled, handing the baby back. "I'm going to use the rest room."

"Right around the corner," Jess directed her. "First door on the left."

"Thank you."

Rory waited until the older woman had rounded the corner before settling into her armchair and pulling down her shirt, covering herself with a blanket once the baby had latched.

"Really, you think Mia is going to care?" Jess frowned.

"Probably not, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to let my boobs hang out for the world to see."

"We're the only ones here, you prude."

"I'm sorry, you think I'm a prude?" Rory raised an eyebrow.

"That's what I said."

"What deluded world are you living in?" she scoffed. "I'm about fifty miles from prudish, and the creation of the child currently attached to my chest should be proof enough of that."

"If I recall correctly," Jess argued, "Lyla was created after an ill-advised celebration that included an entire bottle of tequila."

"If _I_ recall correctly, alcohol isn't exactly known to reel me in," Rory shot back.

Before Jess could think of another suitable argument, Mia returned and put an end to the conversation.

"Where did you say we were going for dinner?" she asked.

"We're taking you for authentic Philly cheese steaks," Rory grinned.

"Oh good!" she clapped her hands together. "That was on my list of things to try while I was here, but I had no idea where I should go."

"It's always best to defer to the locals in these situations," Jess nodded.

"Oh, do you want to see the pictures from the hospital?" Rory asked excitedly. "I don't think I sent them to you."

"No," Mia shook her head.

"I'll grab them," Jess retrieved a photo album and passed it to her. "Liz had them all printed up."

"Oh, that's s nice. Too many people keep everything on electronics these days, photo albums are so much nicer."

She opened the book and started to look through the pictures while Rory narrated them.

"Those were from when my contractions started," she explained. "That's Jess phoning Mom and Luke, just a little bit panicked... That's Jess phoning Mom and Luke half an hour later, _really_ panicked."

"I wasn't panicked!" Jess argued. "I was concerned by how long it was taking them to get here and your refusal to go to a hospital."

"That's why your voice went up about four octaves and you were sweating more than I was?" Rory challenged.

" _Where the hell are you guys?!" Jess demanded, holding his phone so tightly he thought the screen might crack._

" _We're on our way," Luke replied. "What's wrong? What happened?"_

" _What's taking you so long?! You should have been here twenty minutes ago."_

" _There's construction." Luke explained. "What's going on? Is Rory alright?"_

" _I'm fine!" Rory called from her chair. "Jess, calm down."_

" _I'm perfectly calm," her husband snapped._

" _You're about three seconds away from going full on nuclear," she snorted. "Give me the phone."_

" _You should be focusing on your breathing," he shook his head._

" _YOU should be focusing on your breathing," she rolled her eyes and got to her feet. "Give me that. Luke?"_

" _Rory, is everything okay?"_

" _Everything is perfectly fine," she promised. "My contractions are still fifteen minutes apart and I feel great. Your nephew, however, is about to have a nervous breakdown."_

" _Tell the wimp to pull himself together," Lorelai called. "He's embarrassing himself."_

" _Mom says to pull yourself together," Rory told Jess. "So, where are you guys?"_

" _We're about ten minutes from your building," Luke said. "There's construction all over the place."_

" _Great, see you when you get here." she hung up the phone and put a hand to her stomach as another contraction started._

" _Are you okay?" Jess rushed to take her hand. "Do you need to sit down?"_

" _I'm fine," she shook her head. "I'm supposed to walk, walking is good for labour."_

" _Do you need anything to drink? Do you want some water?"_

" _Jess, I swear to God if you don't stop badgering me with questions, I'm going to push you off the fire escape," Rory growled._

" _Right, sorry," he nodded and took a couple deep breaths._

" _Why don't you go make sure the hospital bag is packed," she suggested._

" _Right, just call if you need me."_

 _Rory smiled and kissed his cheek, then pushed him back towards the bedroom and breathed a sigh of relief. She loved that man, she really did, but if he didn't stop handling her with kid gloves she was going to beat him to death. She wanted her brooding, James Dean wannabe, artist back!_

"Hey, look," Jess pointed to the page Mia had just turned to. "There you are having a really bad contraction and throwing a jar at Matt's head."

"Why were you throwing a jar at someone!?" Mia demanded.

"He was making fun of me," Rory shrugged. "It seemed like the appropriate response."

"Of course it did," Mia rolled her eyes.

" _I bet you're regretting sleeping with him now," Cynthia offered as she paced the apartment arm-in-arm with Rory. "I mean, I'm sure he's good, but is it really worth this?"_

" _At this exact moment, no, not it's not" Rory breathed through a contraction. "Jesus Christ! I'm never sleeping with you again!"_

" _Oh, you'll forget all about this in a few weeks," her mother promised. "Trust me, after I had you-"_

" _Do not finish that sentence!" Luke called from the kitchen. "Rory, do you want anything to eat, or do you want me to make you something for later?"_

" _I'm okay," Rory shook her head. "Seriously, Jess, you're never touching me again!"_

" _So do you want him to leave?" Matt smirked._

" _Only if he wants to die," she growled._

" _I'm just checking," he raised his hands. "Cause you seem to be rather conflicted here."_

 _Without warning, Rory grabbed the jar of pens on Jess's desk and flung it at Matt's head._

" _Hey!" he ducked as the jar flew past him- more than a foot away- and hit the bookshelf._

" _Piss off!" she snapped._

" _You could have killed me!"_

" _Oh please," Jess rolled his eyes and picked up the jar. "Have you seen how terrible her arm is?"_

" _How did that not break?" Lorelai asked, not moving from her spot on the couch._

" _It's plastic."_

" _Bummer, that could have been fun."_

" _I could have died!" Matt repeated._

" _Rory, why do you have all these wimps around here?" Lorelai turned to her daughter. "I mean, first Jess was crying like a little girl and now this guy's getting all dramatic. You need calmer friends."_

" _I'm perfectly calm," Cynthia offered._

" _Yes you are," Lorelai smiled at her. "Because you're a girl and you know how to keep your head."_

" _I'm calm!" Luke called._

" _That's because you've been practising for this like it's the damn Olympics," his wife snorted. "The rest of you are absolute disasters. Get it together, you're not the ones pushing a watermelon out of a hole the size of an orange."_

" _That can't be accurate!" Rory's eyes widened. "I mean, that's physically impossible!"_

" _Shh, Sweetie," Lorelai patted her arm. "Mommy's talking."_

" _Don't worry, I'm sure she's just exaggerating," Cynthia offered. "Let's keep walking."_

"Oh my!"

She turned the page to find a picture of a nurse checking how dilated Rory was.

"Yeah, Liz is all about the beauty of childbirth," Rory explained by way of apology. "She's not big on censoring and Mom was more than happy to give her a hand."

"If you're not as... free-spirited as Liz is you might want to skip to the last two pages," Jess offered. "Basically everything in between belongs in some sort of maternity study guide."

" _Mom!" Rory screeched as she saw her mother stick a camera lens under the blanket covering her legs while the nurse checked her cervix. "What the hell are you doing?!"_

" _I'm documenting the miracle of life. You'll thank me one day."_

" _Liar!" Rory threw a handful of ice chips at the woman. "As I recall, when I suggested taking pictures when Sherry was having a baby you were adamantly opposed."_

" _That was Sherry," Lorelai rolled her eyes. "Who gives a crap about her? This is my first grandbaby and I want to document every little bit of her arrival."_

" _Jess!" Rory whined._

" _I tried to stop her already," he shook his head. "She almost beat me to death with the thing."_

" _You'll thank me one day," she repeated._

" _I changed my mind, I want Luke in here with me!"_

" _No you don't," Lorelai laughed. "He's useless in hospitals."_

" _Because you're being so helpful right now."_

" _I'm distracting you," she smiled. "That's super helpful."_

" _How?!"_

" _You didn't notice how uncomfortable it was getting your cervix checked, now did you?"_

 _Rory opened her mouth to argue, then closed it again when she realized that her mom was right and the nurse was already taking her gloves off._

" _5 cm," she smiled at Rory. "Half way there."_

" _Told you I was helping," Lorelai smirked._

" _Go get me more ice chips," Rory threw the remainder of the cup at her._

" _Back in a flash."_

" _I hate her," she huffed once Lorelai was gone._

" _I think you're going to be pretty fond of her in a bit," Jess offered._

 _Rory didn't believe him until her fourth hour of labour, when her contractions were still three minutes apart and she was ready to kill anyone and everyone. Luke had fled the scene to make some calls for Rory and Cynthia and Matt had been thrown out._

" _Okay I'm getting the dynamite thing now!" Rory moaned. "Mom! Make it stop!"_

" _It's almost over," Lorelai assured her. "Just a few more seconds."_

" _You're a filthy liar!"_

" _Here, throw some ice chips at Jess," she held out the cup._

"Well I'm sure it was a beautiful thing to experience, but I think I'll take your advice," Mia laughed, flipping to the back of the book.

"Oh, there's Jess looking like he's about to pass out!" Rory smiled gleefully. "That was great!"

"I wasn't going to pass out," he rolled his eyes.

"You were swaying."

"I was not!"

"You totally were."

"Maybe it just looked that way because you were high," he offered.

"I wasn't high, I was on painkillers," she corrected. "And you were definitely swaying."

" _Okay, Rory, we're almost there," the doctor assured her._

" _You said that an hour ago!" Rory snapped._

" _I really mean it this time," she laughed. "Now, when the next contraction comes I want you to give me a big push."_

" _I'll push you alright," she sneered._

" _Push!"_

" _God, this kid better be worth it!" Rory screamed._

" _You're doing so good Hon," her mother encouraged._

" _I hate you so much right now!" Rory turned to Jess. "You can't even imagine."_

" _Trust me, I can," he promised. "But you're doing so good."_

" _Head is out!" The doctor announced, making Rory slump back against her pillows and take a few deep breaths._

" _We're almost there," Jess kissed her forehead. "She's almost here."_

" _One last push and you'll have a baby," the doctor promised. "Ready?"_

" _No."_

" _Do it anyways," Lorelai patted her hand. "I've got to get pictures of this."_

" _You're not going anywhere," Rory held her in a vice grip._

" _But-"_

" _I am pushing a human out of my body, you're staying wherever I damn please!"_

" _Right," she nodded and took a step closer to the bed. "Okay, here comes the next one."_

 _Rory didn't remember that last push, it was just a blur of cursing and pain, but she did remember the garbled sound of her screaming baby. It was the most amazing sound she had ever heard. Despite the fact that she was in more pain than she had ever imagined possible and she was sure she would never be able to walk again, the frail, warbling sound of her crying newborn made her smile._

" _Oh, she's beautiful!" Lorelai said tearily. "Oh, Rory!"_

" _You did so good," Jess rested his forehead against hers. "You did so good, Ror!"_

" _Do you want to cut the cord?" the doctor smiled at Jess._

" _What?" he looked up in terror. "Isn't there someone more qualified?"_

" _It's not hard," a nurse shrugged._

" _Uh, well," the colour had rushed from Jess' face and he was holding Rory's hand as tightly as she had been holding his a moment before._

" _Oh, you're such a wimp!" Lorelai scoffed. "If you won't do it, I will."_

" _All yours," he waved her forward._

 _An hour later they had been moved out of the delivery room and into recovery, where Luke, Matt and Cynthia had joined them again._

" _Oh, she's precious!" Cynthia cooed. "I just want to bundle her up and take her home with me!"_

" _Jess, watch her," Rory glared._

" _I'll tackle her if she tries anything," he promised._

" _So, now that she's here are you gonna tell us her name?" Luke asked._

" _Yeah, you have to tell us now!" Lorelai bounced in her seat. "I'm dying here!"_

" _Well you'll be happy to know that we've decided to name her... Lorelai," Rory grinned._

" _I TOLD YOU!" Lorelai jumped up and pointed an accusing finger at her husband. "I told you she wouldn't fail me!"_

" _You're going to wake the baby," Luke rolled his eyes. "Sit down and be quiet."_

" _I don't think I've ever been prouder," Lorelai patted her daughter's cheek. "You're such a good daughter. I take back all the terrible things I ever said about you when you were little."_

" _What terrible things?" Rory frowned._

" _They don't matter anymore," Lorelai shook her head. "So, what are we gonna call her."_

" _Lyla," Jess said._

" _Like in Xena?" Matt asked eagerly._

" _Um, sure?" Rory shrugged._

" _What about a middle name?" Luke asked._

" _Amelia," Rory smiled. "The perfect mix of Emily and Mia."_

" _Oh, Honey," Lorelai started tearing up again. "It's perfect!"_

" _We thought so," Jess smiled and wrapped an arm around Rory's shoulders._

" _Lorelai Amelia Mariano," Cynthia smiled at the baby. "Nice to meet you."_

"Jess was your mother there for the birth?" Mia interrupted their argument.

"No, she was at a fair when Rory went into labour, so she came up on the weekend. But I promised her we wouldn't let the next one come before she get here," Jess said.

"Next one?" Rory raised an eyebrow. "Did I miss something?"

"What, you don't want more?"

"How about we work out how to handle Miss Woodhouse here, first?"

"Rory, you really shouldn't refer to your daughter as the child of Satan," Mia wrinkled her nose. "It'll just egg her on."

"I would stop if she only slept at night," Rory promised. "Ow! Don't bite me!"

"She doesn't have any teeth," Jess rolled his eyes.

"How about you let her chew your nipples and then tell me she doesn't have teeth," Rory snapped at him, then looked back at her daughter. "Are you done? Is that why you're biting me?"

"Who's this?" Mia pointed to a picture of a young girl holding the baby.

"Oh, that's Jess's little sister Doula," Rory smiled.

" _That's_ Doula?" Mia gasped. "The last time I saw her she was practically a baby!"

"She just turned six," Rory laughed. "And she's been growing like a weed the last few months."

"How does she feel about being an Aunt?"

"She was super psyched," Jess laughed. "She wants to take her out on the renaissance circuit to show all her friends."

"That's lovely," Mia smiled.

"Okay, I'm just going to change Lyla and then we can go for dinner," Rory got to her feet.

"So," Mia turned to Jess once they were alone. "How do you like being a father?"

"It's amazing," he smiled brightly. "I mean, I was worried that I wouldn't be good at it, since my dad was a walk out, but Rory set me straight pretty fast."

"I'm sure she did," Mia nodded. "And she was absolutely right."

"I'm not as good with her as Rory is," he shrugged.

"You'll get there," Mia promised. "It just takes a little time."

"Okay," Rory returned with Lyla in one hand and the car seat in the other. "We're all ready."

"Excellent!" Mia jumped to her feet. "My first authentic cheesesteak! Is it going to be from a shack? I don't know why, but the best food always seems to be from shacks."

"Oddly enough, it is," Rory laughed. "Come on, it's going to change your life!"

 **A/N: And that's the ballgame (I think that's the expression, I don't really know anything about sports though...) Anyways, this is the end- for now at least. I might add to this every once in a while, should the creative gods grant me an idea, but for now I think this is a good place to stop. Thank you so much to everyone that reviewed and followed and favourited this story and it's predecessors, you guys mean the absolute world to me!**

 **Thank you for coming on this journey and keeping up with the Jess and Rory I've created in my mind.**

 **Cheers!**

 **-Em**


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